Violence against tourists on Mexican beaches puts Lopez Obrador’s government’s summer campaign in jeopardy

By Laura Fernández Cañas

A 27-year-old Canadian tourist died after being shot in the back last week in Puerto Escondido, one of Mexico’s most touristic cities.

The body of Victor Masson was found lifeless and with signs of violence inside a car.

He was from Saguenay, a quiet city in Quebec, and had come to the Oaxaca region to meet the family of his Mexican girlfriend.

The crime took place in the Arroyo Seco neighborhood at night when the victim decided to leave his hotel alone to dine at a local restaurant, where he met a group of two women and two men, with whom, according to witnesses, he ended up arguing over the payment of the bill.

A gunshot alerted the neighbors, who alerted the authorities.

The municipal police and several agents of the Secretariat of the Navy arrived at the scene a few minutes later.

So far, the Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office has not issued a statement.

On the contrary, Masson’s family has appeared in Canadian media to ask for caution from the media to avoid false information that could affect the investigation.

Eiva Castillo, the victim’s girlfriend, had used her social networks to give her version of events, which does not coincide with those published by official media, sharing the audio and conversations with Masson moments before he was killed.

Masson’s death is the second instance of violence against foreigners recorded on the coasts of Oaxaca.

Argentine Benjamín Gamond was murdered in Laguna de Chacahua, one of the most representative protected areas of the state.

The young man had been living in Mexico for several months; he had just arrived from Tulum with friends.

After a morning of surfing, while they were having lunch on a terrace, a man armed with a machete attacked him from behind, causing several cuts to his head.

Both friends were injured.

48 hours after the incident, Gamond died in a hospital in Mexico City, where he was flown to in an emergency helicopter.

Shortly after, the victim’s siblings released a video to share their family’s decision to donate the deceased’s organs.

Puerto Escondido is a Mexican city and port belonging to the state of Oaxaca, about 800 km southeast of Mexico City.

The accumulated hotel occupancy in this region increased in recent years by 27%, and the arrival of tourists has increased by 93%, with 273,735 more people.

Many of them are Spaniards, who, behind the French and Germans, are the ones who most frequently choose Oaxaca’s beaches as a vacation destination, especially in the winter, with December being the month most Spanish visitors registered.

This area, a favorite of European tourism, had 786 homicides in 2021 out of the 37,500 registered in the country.

The high figure has led the Mexican government to militarize the most touristic beaches in an attempt to improve security margins in these territories.

The mobilization of the Armed Forces came after at least eight people were killed in the main tourist areas of the country: Acapulco and Cancun.

Almost 5,000 soldiers have been distributed among Tulum, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and the coasts of Veracruz.

It is expected that after the latest events, the Oaxaca area will also be added to the list of militarized tourist areas.

With information from LGI

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