#MEXICO'S BEACH WARS TRIAL#

Mauricio Góngora, the former mayor of Playa del Carmen, just south of Cancún, was arrested after an unsuccessful election campaign to succeed Borge as state governor, and stands accused of misappropriating £9.5m ($13.3m). Journalists who investigated allegations of official wrongdoing were arrested on trumped-up charges.

#MEXICO'S BEACH WARS TRIAL#

One former governor of the surrounding state of Quintana Roo, Roberto Borge, awaits trial on accusations of graft after being extradited from Panama.ĭuring his 2010-2016 administration, hotel and land owners in Tulum were forced to hand over their properties in complex schemes involving notaries and judges. Political corruption and collusion between politicians and criminal groups is also believed to have exacerbated the problem. “These are their methods and they’re now here.”

“ shoot first and ask questions later,” said a source who works on public security issues in Cancún. Over the past year the upstart Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) has been moving into the resort city, pushing out other groups such as the Gulf cartel. While the crackdown and capture of kingpins has won praise from the media and US, it has done little to reduce the violence. The biggest victory – and most embarrassing blunder – under Peña Nieto’s leadership was the recapture, escape and another recapture of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Officials say 25 of the 37 drug traffickers on Calderón’s most-wanted list have been jailed, extradited to the US or killed, although not all of these actions have been independently corroborated. Improved collaboration between the US and Mexico has resulted in numerous high-profile arrests and drug busts. Under new president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, murder rates are up and a new security force, the Civil Guard, is being deployed onto the streets despite campaign promises to end the drug war. The funds have continued to flow despite indisputable evidence of human rights violations. Mexico’s decade-long war on drugs would never have been possible without the injection of American cash and military cooperation under the Merida Initiative. But his biggest victory – and most embarrassing blunder – was the recapture, escape, another recapture and extradition of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Peña Nieto claimed to have killed or detained 110 of 122 of his government's most wanted narcos. Critics say that this influx of cash has helped create an opaque security industry open to corruption.īut the biggest costs have been human: since 2007, over 250,000 people have been murdered, more than 40,000 reported as disappeared and 26,000 unidentified bodies in morgues across the country. Human rights groups have also detailed a vast rise in human rights abuses including torture, extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances by state security forces. The US has donated at least $1.5bn through the Merida Initiative since 2008, while Mexico spent at least $54bn on security and defence between 20. Within two months, around 20,000 troops were involved in operations. On 10 December 2006, Felipe Calderón launched Mexico’s war on drugs by sending 6,500 troops into his home state of Michoacán, where rival cartels were engaged in tit-for-tat massacres.Ĭalderón declared war eight days after taking power – a move widely seen as an attempt to boost his own legitimacy after a bitterly contested election victory.

Mexico's beach wars