Mexico Establishing Tourist Security Battalion in Quintana Roo

The Mexican state of Quintana Roo is getting its first Tourist Security Battalion to ensure safety and security in tourist hotspots like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum in the wake of recent violence.

According to the region’s Governor Carlos Joaquin, officials will create a new National Guard Tourist Security Battalion of 1,445 troops as of December 1.

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“This battalion will provide security to the entire tourist area and, as 2022 progresses, the tools for the project and the equipment required to attend to this new mission will be provided,” Mexico’s Secretary of Defense Luis Cresencio Sandoval said via Riviera Maya News. “The model that we would use here for the first time, with the National Guard in its specialty in the tourist area, will be replicated in other areas of the Mexican Republic in the main tourist sites.”

The troops will be tasked with reinforcing security for residents and tourists alike, prioritizing the local municipalities of Benito Juarez (Cancun), Solidaridad (Playa del Carmen) and Tulum.

The news comes a couple of weeks after two foreign tourists were killed and three were wounded in Tulum following crossfire between drug dealers on October 20 and a gang-related drug shooting on the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun beach in Puerto Morelos south of Cancun on November 4.

“The safety of our visitors is of the utmost importance, and we are in continuous communications with the government, tour operators, hotel associations and other partners to ensure that all of our destinations are aligned on safety measures,” Quintana Roo Tourism Board Director Dario Flota Ocampo reiterated earlier this month.