Mexico's cartel violence threatens legitimate income for the poor

The cartel is a chronic problem in Mexicobut the escalation of violence in recent years is beginning to threaten him tourismwhich is one of the minimal and legal sources of income for the poor, who do not want to turn to illegality.

The biggest issue is found in state of Chiapaswhere armed guards stand on the routes that lead to archaeological sites and ruins from the Mayan civilization. There they stop tourists and check their IDs and mobile phones to see if they are local, belong to a rival gang or have connections with the underworld.

“They ask for your IDto see if you are a resident of the area. They take your cell phone phone and demand your login code and then look through your chats to see if you belong to another gang. Anytime an opposing team may appear and start a shootout“, said a tour guide to New York Post and wished to remain anonymous to avoid possible retaliation.

So, for the last few months it has 5% of scheduled trips are cancelled in areas that live from tourism in archaeological sites, while residents fear that the phenomenon will expand in the near future.

“Many communities have not fallen into illegality yet, because they live legally thanks to tourism and tours. In Mexico we are an agricultural state with poverty and no industry. We have no factories and tourism is one of the few legitimate sources of income. If that too is lost, the cartels will grow and they know it“, another tour guide told the US Media.

However, the state disagrees with the tour guides and maintains that there is no problem from the cartels. In fact, some archaeologists reported that “archaeological sites are safer than ever”. But it is common for the Mexican state to downplay the damage from the cartels, and several officials have been accused of ties to the criminal organizations.