Two gunmen killed an Argentine man who managed a popular club in Playa del Carmen, at Mexico's Riviera Maya tourist resort, local authorities said Wednesday.
Federico Mazzoni, the manager of the Mamita's beach club, popular with foreign tourists, was shot twice in the head on Tuesday afternoon, confirmed Oscar Montes de Oca, state prosecutor in Quintana Roo, where the resort is located.
"There are two guys, apparently from a local criminal structure, who enter [the club], talk to the manager, now the victim, take him to the bathrooms and there they kill him," he said in an interview with Milenio TV.
Montes de Oca indicated that "the most solid line of investigation" is that the crime had to do with the sale of drugs.
The attackers fled on a jet ski, according to images captured by security cameras.
The crime occurred when the club had few customers and was about to close, according to the prosecutor.
For its part, the Mamita's group issued a statement in which it merely expressed regret for the incident.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy on Tuesday night issued a security alert to its citizens visiting the Mexican Caribbean, in view of the violence in the Riviera Maya.
"In light of recent security incidents and criminal activity in popular tourist destinations such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, US citizens are reminded to exercise extra caution when travelling," the embassy said.
Montes de Oca acknowledged that there are security problems linked to drug sales and organised crime extortion of businesses.
On Friday 21, two Canadians were killed and another injured in a shooting at a hotel complex near Cancún.
Investigations indicate that the victims were linked to organised crime and that the attack was a settling of scores.
The prosecutor ruled out links between the Argentine murder and that of the Canadians.
In November, two suspected drug dealers were killed after a shootout on an exclusive hotel beach on the outskirts of Cancún.
In October, another shootout between suspected traffickers left two tourists dead, a German and an Indian woman in Tulum.
The Mexican Caribbean is one of the world's top beach destinations and the country's tourism flagship, accounting for 8.5 percent of GDP.
– TIMES/AFP
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