In April, readers may recall, we outlined the high-end resort town of Tulum, Mexico, popular with celebrities, Instagram influencers, and millennials, descending into a chaotic hellhole as cartels waged war against each other to control the drug trade. Since then, the violence has spiraled out of control as multiple tourists were killed and several injured during a cartel gunfight. Instagram influencers are in the business of selling the best of what Tulum has to offer and are hiding a troubling secret that the popular destinations just south of Cancun have seen a spat of cartel-related shootouts.
The latest shootout killed two female foreign tourists and injured three others last Thursday at a popular restaurant in downtown Tulum, a few miles from the beach. Of the two women who were killed, one was from Germany and the other India.
Daily Beast spoke with a Mexican police commander, who agreed to talk about the situation on a condition of anonymity. He said, "they [female girls] were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and got caught in an exchange of gunfire between competing drug traffickers."
"It's a sad mistake for the victims, but such cases are not rare or unusual anymore [in and around Tulum]. When a firefight breaks out, no one is safe," the commander said.
Tulum is a playground for Instagram influencers who are all about flaunting their bodies. That is one of the reasons why the resort town has become so popular in recent years.
In response to the deadly shooting, Mexico will boost the presence of the National Guard and military to 450 members in the area. There are currently five cartels in the region, and they're battling each other to control the drug trade to tourists. The chaos has sparked a massive surge in violent crime, up 783% since 2019.
But none of this should come as a surprise because we outlined how Tulum was spiraling out of control in April. We even captured exclusive photos of protests that show locals marching down the street holding a sign that read "Tourist You are NOT safe in Tulum."
As we've said before, "Tulum is a chaotic hellhole full of corrupt cops and daily shootings as cartels wage war against each other."
Next time you're thinking about booking a trip to Tulum, stay out of the main town and book at a resort on the beach to avoid shootings. Or all together, avoid Mexico in general.