“Right now, we are not so sure we're going to buy anything here,” Graham said.

tourist James Graham said he had come to Tulum with the idea of possibly buying a property there to rent out on AirBnB. The killings threatened Tulum's reputation as a low-key carefree beach town without the crowding and problems of Cancun.Īfter the shooting, U.S. The gang is also fighting the Jalisco Cartel and other groups for the area's lucrative drug market. The gang, part of the Gulf Cartel, has long extorted protection money from bars and night clubs in Cancun, but has now apparently extended operations further south to Playa del Carmen and Tulum. “We are in control here,” the sign added. The sign said the shooting “was a warning, so you can see we mean business,' adding “you either get in line or we are going to continue shutting places down like the Mini Quinta,” an apparent warning to pay extortion demands for protection money. On Friday, the civic group Citizens Observatorio of Tulum posted photos of hand-lettered signs that appeared at a local market in Tulum, signed by a drug gang known as Los Pelones, roughly “the Shaved Heads.” The shooting occurred on Tulum's ‘Mini-Quinta,’ a reference to Playa del Carmen's larger, flashier bar and restaurant zone known as Quinta Avenida, or Fifth Avenue. The tourists were apparently dining at the restaurant and may have been caught in the crossfire. The gunfight apparently broke out between two groups that operate street-level drug sales in the area, according to prosecutors. The German Foreign Office issued a travel advisory about the violence, advising its citizens “if you are currently in the Tulum or Playa del Carmen area, do not leave your secured hotel facilities.”

Graham ambushed at airport