News Forum - Cancun’s hidden side exposed in award-winning investigation

[Marc26]

8 hours ago, Vigo said:

Thank you for the 4 references. You doubled up on the Hyatt, so actually 3 shooting incidents. Here's what differentiates these incidents from Phuket murders: No tourists were targeted. No tourists or foreign expats died. These were  gangster settling accounts. I do not dismiss the danger to  bystanders, but these were planned hits, no different than when the Hells Angels planted car bombs during their turf war in Australia/Canada, or when the mob takes out someone in NYC or New Jersey. Mob hits today typically feature similar scenarios at public dining venues in North America.  Now let's compare to Thailand. More foreigners get bumped off in Thailand.

- Jimi Sandhu Feb 2022 (an alleged drug cartel hit)

- Nicole Sauvain-Weisskopf brutally murdered (drowned) by a Thai (August 2021)

- Peter Hepell (Phuket expat, but Krabi resort owner) stabbed to death (April 2023), I won't classify this as a Phuket murder since it was in Krabi, but seeing how you want to throw  in proximate murders, here's an example.

- Maybe its the water currents off of Phuket but every so often there are  dead foreigners who are found on the beach, or dead and floating in the water off of Phuket. They die under mysterious circumstances. The most recent example  was December 2022;  A foreign couple found dead on the beach one day and 2 floaters in the ocean on another day. reference  https://www.newsflare.com/video/534637/four-foreigners-found-dead-floating-off-thai-holiday-island-phuket

- June 2022, A Russian woman  was found dead after a "fall from a balcony in Patong". 2 Arabs males  and a Russian woman were subsequently detained  in a murder investigation.

I acknowledge  that the potential for a  gang shootout in Cancun is more likely than in Phuket. The optics are terrible.  However, the reality is that a tourist is more likely to die while on holiday in Phuket than in Cancun.  Some of this is due to corruption and failure to uphold the law.  Phuket is the destination which has seen mass drownings because the  maritime safety regulations were not enforced (2018 Ferry sinking with 50 deaths. Investigation revealed inadequate number of life vests and fire extinguishers on board.) Phuket is also the airport where 89 pax  burnt to death in a crash on an aircraft that should not have been flying.  Mexico is just as corrupt, as Thailand, the difference is that  the corruption  typically kills Mexicans. In Thailand, the corruption kills tourists. Cancun is more likely to see enforcement of traffic  laws than  Phuket, and the failure to  uphold the traffic laws is one of the reasons why  there are  more  vehicle related deaths in Phuket.

If one is to compare Cancun and Phuket for tourist safety, one must look at the big picture.  It's like comparing Chernobyl district and Phuket : There is little  if any crime in Chernobyl and using the logic of the  media providers, one could argue that Chenobyl is therefore safer. The reality is that there is a  strong likelihood that a tourist will return from Phuket safe and sound. A week or more in the radioactive wasteland but crime free Chernobyl will most likely leave the visitor in a bad state.

Corruption

 

My wife and I were in Tulum last summer and had a 9am flight out of Cancun and we had covid requiremetns and had to return the rental car so we left Tulum at 3am

 

Got stopped at a checkpoint on the main highway

2 Mexican cops stopped us, but neither spoke a word of English

 

They were obviously looking for money but couldn't really say it

So after 3 or 4 mins of confusion I slowly started driving away "no habla Espanol" 5555

 

If you going to extort tourists, learn a little English!  :)

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

Maybe the next article will be …..

News Forum - Phuket’s hidden side exposed in award-winning investigation.