Zetas Cartel Claims Responsibility For BPM Festival Shooting As Gangs Target Cancun

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A Fox News report suggests that the Zetas cartel has claimed responsibility for the  shooting at Playa del Carmen’s Blue Parrot that left five people dead. Yesterday morning, four blankets featuring the same message, directed at Phillip Pulitano, a Canadian co-founder of The BPM Festival, were scattered around the city.

zetas

The text reads:

“This is a sign that we are already here because you didn’t align PHILLIP -BPM, it is the beginning we are going to cut the heads of Golfos, PELONES and chapulines, Atte [Sincerely] el FAYO Z from the old SCHOOL”

The notes seem to be coming from Zetas leader Rafael del Angel Velez Morales, who is nicknamed Fayo Z. According to a longtime resident, the message likely has to do with the illegal drug business:

“What is behind all this is a turf war. This group [Zetas] tried to charge a fee to the organizers of the BPM Festival and they refused saying that they had already paid quotas to other organizations.”

This new development comes on the same day that an Emergecy Code Red was activated in tourist hotspot Cancun (located very close to Playa Del Carmen) as gang-related attacks targeting the Attorney General as well as the Control Center for Computer and Communications (C4) in the area. Reports indicate that the attack was intended to break out one Leticia Rodriguez Lara (aka Dona Lety).

Reports say that several armed men arrived at the scene and opened fire from motorcyles. In addition, there were attacks in in Avenida Nichupte using grenades killing one and shots fired at the Plaza Las Americas Shopping Center. At this time, the hotel zone of Cancun and the exit to Playa del Carmen are closed to traffic. Any remaining visitors from the BPM Festival are being advised to leave. The same gang violence that destroyed the wonderful times at the BPM Festival is spilling out into adjacent areas, showing just how great the threat of gang violence is for tourists in Mexico.



Source: Yucatan Times, Fox News