Is Cancun safe?

[V]

I live here, and here's what I told someone recently, who was thinking about coming to live in Cancun for four months-

I feel it is only ever possible to talk about relative safety, believing no one is ever completely safe anywhere, anytime.

With that in mind, of course you can come here for four months and return home without having anything bad happen to you, unless you are just extremely unlucky, or careless.

The real question will be whether you can get [the project you need to complete online] done- while surrounded by tropical skies, sand and sea. Not everyone could!

Some readers will have heard of the attack on the casino in Monterey, Mexico- far, far from Cancun- that occurred recently.

Not wanting to take any chances with the tourists' safety here, our state law enforcement shut the Playboy casino in the HZ, just a day ago, on orders of the governor, when they were found to have what the government said was inadequate provision for the safety of its patrons.

The Hotel Zone may very well be one of the safest places you could hope to be in the world, and now it's just a little safer.

[d5332]

V, Mexico is the new Colombia and one should not say that its safe because internationally publicized crimes are far far away from Cancun.

Cartels dont only run drugs, they also run ilegal gambling machines, casinos, extort weekly and monthly "protection" fees from legit businesses.

Casinos are a major revenue generator for Cartels. Money is generated in two ways....1 illegal gambling machines owned by the cartel, the force real casino owners to make room for their machines in their establishments or they setup their own illegal casinos and the 2 is to simply extort huge sums of money on a monthly basis from real legit casino owners.

Cartels steal land from legitimate land owners, extort money from cattle ranchers, farmers, etc etc....

Medellin has seen 7 or 8 casino owners killed for not agreeing to extortions.

What happened in Monterrey can happened anywhere, including Cancun. Casinos mean money, cash, the money simply flows in.

The Casinos that are being shut down in Mexico right now were shut down for failed inspections. Its only in reaction to the Monterrey attack. People died in Monterrey because the casino had been modified and emergency exits were blocked and people died unnecessarily. The attackers probably did not even intend to kill so many people, they intended to burn it down and maybe set an example but no kill so many.

Just to stay in the topic of Casinos, Casinos are cash money, millions of dollars per month per City not across the entire Country, do the math.

The Monterrey attack can happen anywhere including Cancun, with all due respect, you nor anyone posted do not have any idea which Casino is being extorted, which Casino refuses to be extorted or which Casino was purchased by "business men".....

Monterrey can happen anywhere including Cancun, its about money not regions.

I was born in Medellin Colombia, I have nearly 100 family members still living there, cousins, in-laws, uncles, etc....none of them have been killed by the violence, however, in Colombia just like in Mexico currently there is an underworld power struggle. In Itagui alone, Itagui is where I am from, on a weekly basis 10 to 15 people are being violently killed and that number does not count the people that are disappeared. If you find your self in town, at the wrong place, at the wrong time.....the end....

Do I feel safe when I travel, yes I do. However, my network of family keeps me safe. The locals always know what store, business, bar is owned by a shady characters, which gang is battling which gang, which neighborhood is in dispute so they help us navigate.

Tourist should not worry greatly if they stick within tourist areas but to say "that happened very far away" or "that was isolated", thats misleading.

Tourism is fine but Mexico as a whole is to be navigated wisely.

[V]

If your point is that visiting casinos carries with it an enhanced risk, then I'm with you: the article I read about the attack in Monterey offered the same explanation, that they are often associated with criminal activities, which you've reiterated for the readers with your post.

Of more interest to the tourists is their relative safety while visiting here- which I rate as very high, indeed, once we get past eating and drinking too much, and the extra risks that can create around sun, sand, and sea!

[Steve]

Originally Posted by d5332

but to say "that happened very far away" or "that was isolated", thats misleading.

Not misleading at all.

It did happen far away, and casinos being firebombed is isolated.

[d5332]

I am sure that the people that died felt the same exact way.

Originally Posted by Steve

Not misleading at all.

It did happen far away, and casinos being firebombed is isolated.

[d5332]

i·so·lat·edAdjective/ˈīsəˌlātid/

1. Far away from other places, buildings, or people; remote.
2. Having minimal contact or little in common with others.

Misleading....

One could say...its rare, unsual, not often used, for gangsters to use granades and jugs of gasoline to send a message.

I am willing to say that its not often that it occurs, wont go further than that.

[gabesz]

Though the gang members react in highly violent ways, these gangs do not operate as freely in Cancun as they do near the US borders. That is why Cancun is indeed safe compared to the areas where all this drug gang activity takes place. Keep in mind that tourism is the number 2 source of income for Mexico in a whole. And Cancun is the number 1 source of this income. Therefore the government does all possible to keep Cancun very safe for tourists.

Keep in mind that you as the tourist may do something dumb and no protection will help protect you in that case. But this trouble is started individually vs. on a much large scale as in the border areas. So you are safe till you look for trouble. Same as in any other city.

[ToriB]

I find that my Mexican boyfriend is a pretty intelligent guy and when he says he feels perfectly safe here in Cancun, I find no reason to argue with him. Monterrey is in fact a very dangerous city; one of the most dangerous in Mexico. While, those poor victims probably did feel safe to be in a Casino that day, I am sure they wouldn't be one to say they felt their city was. One only has to do a google search. Do the exact same search about Cancun. I am sure the results speak for themselves.

[T.J.]

Good point ToriB. Monterrey, a city of commerce, as opposed to tourism being the dominant industry, has a horrible reputation for crime and danger.

[V]

In Cancun, the only protection you'll need is your Trojans.

[d5332]

Sitting at Philly airport waiting for my delayed flight....

As tourism is concerned, its safe, the only spuer bad thing that happened to me was that I lost too much sleep having fun.

For someone looking to move to live in Cancun, its seems safe. I hit the town several times and met a lot of folks that migrated to Cancun from other Mex cities, its seems relatively safe. However, it should not be ignored that organizeds crime is expanding and that if you intend to move to Cancun and say open up a business, person will need to research exactly what kind of businesses are being extorted, locals told me dozens of businesses have closed in 2011 rather than pay monthly extortions but I did not ask if it was supermarkets, restaurants, construction.....point is, if moving do plenty plenty of research, if visiting drink a redbull or double espresso when u start losing horsepower.

[MartinLovesLori]

Originally Posted by V

Not wanting to take any chances with the tourists' safety here, our state law enforcement shut the Playboy casino in the HZ, just a day ago, on orders of the governor, when they were found to have what the government said was inadequate provision for the safety of its patrons.

The Hotel Zone may very well be one of the safest places you could hope to be in the world, and now it's just a little safer.

I was in the Playboy Casino on Monday, it is not closed.

Originally Posted by V

In Cancun, the only protection you'll need is your Trojans.

And Immodium

[Steve]

Originally Posted by MartinLovesLori

I was in the Playboy Casino on Monday, it is not closed.

Yeah V's original post is about 2 weeks old.

They did shut down the Playboy Casino, it was closed for about 5 days. I understand they improved fire safety arrangements - alarms, exits etc and it was allowed to re-open once compliant.

[Luna Blue]

We did a blog about Safety and Crime in Playa del Carmen, but much of it is applicable to Cancun as well. If anyone is interested you can find it at;

Safety & Crime in Playa del Carmen Mexico 2011: The Truth « Luna Blue’s PlayaZone

[d5332]

Its a very nice right up, sort of standing up for Playa...

The problem with gang related/drug related/mafia related/dispute related/vengence related crime is that yes while the victim is often not random, as write up states "targeted" bullets do not have on board navigation systems. Stray bullets kill.

When I read months ago that the chief in Playa was killed I wondered what did he know, what was he trying to stop, what case was he working on, in whose way did he get.

It's not my intentions to offend the writer of the Playa document but while the Chief was "targeted" the underlying reasons for being such a target are still not known. Did he piss of a childhood friend, did he sleep with the neighbors wife, was he investigating and trying to prevent organized crime from affecting the tourism industry in Playa.

Things are not so vanilla and chocalate, black and white.

The streets are not in chaos over by the beach, however, things are happening, in the alley ways sort of speak, away form mainstreet.

Acapulco never thought it would find itself where it is now. Acapulco meant $$$$$ and those $$$$$$$ were toursim dollars.

"targeted" and "isolated" are used by the news media, at times, to create a false sense of security.

"targeted" or "isolated" is when a husband targets his wife for murder, when a mentally ill man walks into his place of employment and kills 5 ppl. Explanation is usually easy, guy killed his wife bc he was mentally unstable and she was leaving him, he lost it. Mentally challenged person kills 5 co-workers. Not so simple when the Chief of Police is murdered and trust me authorities know longggggg ago why he was killed they know the underlying reasons.

Originally Posted by Luna Blue

We did a blog about Safety and Crime in Playa del Carmen, but much of it is applicable to Cancun as well. If anyone is interested you can find it at;

Safety & Crime in Playa del Carmen Mexico 2011: The Truth « Luna Blue’s PlayaZone

[Luna Blue]

Originally Posted by d5332

Its a very nice right up, sort of standing up for Playa...

The problem with gang related/drug related/mafia related/dispute related/vengence related crime is that yes while the victim is often not random, as write up states "targeted" bullets do not have on board navigation systems. Stray bullets kill.

When I read months ago that the chief in Playa was killed I wondered what did he know, what was he trying to stop, what case was he working on, in whose way did he get.

It's not my intentions to offend the writer of the Playa document but while the Chief was "targeted" the underlying reasons for being such a target are still not known. Did he piss of a childhood friend, did he sleep with the neighbors wife, was he investigating and trying to prevent organized crime from affecting the tourism industry in Playa.

Things are not so vanilla and chocalate, black and white.

The streets are not in chaos over by the beach, however, things are happening, in the alley ways sort of speak, away form mainstreet.

Acapulco never thought it would find itself where it is now. Acapulco meant $$$$$ and those $$$$$$$ were toursim dollars.

"targeted" and "isolated" are used by the news media, at times, to create a false sense of security.

"targeted" or "isolated" is when a husband targets his wife for murder, when a mentally ill man walks into his place of employment and kills 5 ppl. Explanation is usually easy, guy killed his wife bc he was mentally unstable and she was leaving him, he lost it. Mentally challenged person kills 5 co-workers. Not so simple when the Chief of Police is murdered and trust me authorities know longggggg ago why he was killed they know the underlying reasons.

You seem more interested in semantics than content. We think you missed the point.

We use the terms targeted and isolated to distinguish these shootings from random acts where the victims are not specific...the fire bombing of the casino in Monterey as an example.

We think most visitors can understand the difference between a random act and a "targeted' one. And yes...the Chief of police might have been killed for reasons of a personal nature or for gang war reasons. We don't know. The point is that the killers weren't randomly shooting into a crowd of tourists and thus the response to these kilings by potential visitors should be different than if they had been so random.

As for Acapulco, the differences bewteen that city and Playa or Cancun for that matter are much greater than their similarities. Mexico's east coast has a long history of cartel activity based on its location and ease of access to ground transportation routes for drugs in/guns out. Different cultural and racial heritage of the locals also has an influence. To say that Playa or Cancun will follow Acapulco into drug violence shows a lack of understanding of Mexico..its geography, its people and its history.

BTW you are correct in saying there is no chaos by the beach...but you are simply wrong to suggest there is "chaos" anywhere in Playa. Its streets are calm. We know because we walk them everyday.

Finally remember how we said above that you missed our point? Well here it is: people with no special knowledge offering damaging opinions about Mexico as fact are acting irresponsibly and do more damage to innocent Mexican families in this area than the cartel does.

[d5332]

I just came back from Mexico so....

I happen to know streets similar to Mexico's.

When I say stray, I am also referring to myself, I survived a stray bullet.

I like many Mexican citizens have been directly and indirectly affected. 3 Cousins and 1 uncle murdered in the past 5 years.

When I post here or anywhere else, I simply try to convey that things are not always how they seem or how the news reports them.

Not trying to ruin anyone's economy or jeopardize anyone's job security, again just came back from Mexico.

Acapulco was once the gem of tourism, not suggesting Playa is next to be affected.

People are concerned for the very same reason I stated, bullets do not have on board navigation.

Lastly, as I have stated, anyone traveling to resorts and doing the tourist routine is pretty safe, as safe as any other resort zone.

I may not know Playa but I have a clue or two about a thing or two, not a big difference from what I've lived and what's happening in Central and the rest of South America..

Again, was not trying to offend anyone. Oh and let's not forget, I just came back Mexico and I ran thru town as if I lived there.

[V]

There are always those who get alarmed at crime, and those who don't.

For the most part, knowing that crimes occur in the town I live in doesn't affect me to any degree, whatsoever.

There was an armed robbery of a bank a few blocks from where I live. Do you think that changed my behavior to any degree? None whatsoever. I'd go to that bank, and walk that street, as readily as if it had never happened because for me, it's as if it never did.

That a robbery occured did not change the risk of my being a victim of crime at all: the risk was the same the day before the robbery, and the same the day after; that is, extremely small.

To understand this attitude, it's enough to know I was born, raised and lived in the U.S.A., where crime is present in significant amounts in every large city. Dallas, where I'm from, has had 50% more murders this year than the entire State of Quintana Roo (which includes the City of Cancun), most of them associated in one way or the other with the drug trade, as everywhere; this doesn't make us fearful, it makes us tough.

Fearful chatter is just chatter, so far as I'm concerned. At my condo the men have given the women who live alone our cell phone numbers: we're ready to respond to anything they hear or see that they don't like, day or night.

[Canadian Dos Equis fan]

As a frequent tourist to cancun I'd like to add my own 2 cents. I have always felt safe in cancun and every person to be kind and friendly. True, I'm not trying to run a business there, nor to live there. *Although ladies if you are looking for a cabana boy who works for beer let me know*

just like anywhere in the world, knowledge is power. Don't put yourself in a position to become a target for organized crime, by flashing a huge billfold. If you operate a business get advice from reputable sources on how to keep you safe at work etc etc. There will be dangers unique to cancun as i'm sure there are in New Jersey and as I know there are in my hometown of Calgary.

So is cancun safe? As far as I'm concerned it is.

[dixiedog]

I live an hour from NYC and can say the same. No one's safety is guaranteed unless you live in a cocoon...that said, it would be a shame to miss out on an awesome experience because of fear....just got back from Cancun today and felt as safe as if I was in the states....