MEXICO: Are Tourists Safe From Narco Violence In Cancun? Another Shark Attack Reported.

USATODAY/ K.B. YANCEY/

   Cancun had 5.9 million international visitors last year, up by more than 400,000 from 2009.
   But so far this year, hotel occupancy rates are down...to about 71% instead of the usual high season 80%-plus...as Americans read and are repelled by news of Mexico's increased narco violence.
   Cancun and the Maya Riviera in the state of Quintana Roo are important to mexico's economy. They account for more than 50% of international tourism.
   Cancun has increased security.
   But up to date crime numbers are hard to get..even for the U.S.embassy.

AND:  A Russian tourist was attacked by a shark just 100 yards from Cancun's shore...after lifeguards warned the woman to stay out of the water.
    It was the second shark attack in Cancun's hotel zone in less than two months.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/25/2133170/shark-bites-cancun-tourist-in.html

MEXICO: 12 Bodies Found In Sinkholes Near Cancun.

LAHT/     Officially now, nothing is sacred in Mexico. Cancun police found 12 bodies inside four sinkholes, limestone caves and pools known as cenotes, loved by tourists and now apparently used by drug gangs for disposal of bodies. The clandestine cemeteries are on the outskirts of Cancun, three in an area known as Alamos 2. (Foto of popular tourist cenote in Yucatan)

CUBA/MEXICO: Details Emerge On Human Smuggling In Q.Roo; Mayor Under Arrest Is Implicated.

MIAMIHERALD/CUBAN COLADA/     A lucrative human trafficking network that moved Cubans to the Yucatán peninsula and later the U.S. was reported by the newspaper El Diario of Ciudad Juárez. It started in January 2009 with tourist visas or official permits issued to the Cubans for a six-month stay in Mexico to appear in various artistic "shows" by a company managed by a local politician. They stayed until they could be taken to the U.S. border. The then-mayor of Benito Juárez City, Gregorio Sánchez Martínez, was an active supporter of that endeavor. He is in jail charged with organized crime, drug trafficking, and money laundering.

MEXICO: Cancun Mayor Arrested On Drug Charges.

LATIMES/    Cancun Mayor Gregorio Sanchez, who's running for governor of Quintana Roo, was arrested by federal police on drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime charges. Police claim Sanchez offered information and protection to the Zetas and Beltran Leyva narco gangs.
"This takes us all by surprise, it is unprecedented," said Q. Roo Gov. Felix Gonzalez Cantu. "This is a political prosecution. There is no other word for it," Sanchez's wife told reporters. Sanchez was known  for firing corrupt police officers and turning empty lots into parks.

MEXICO: Cancun Drug Chief Captured.

LAHT/ Reputed Quintana Roo drug lord Jesus Alejandro Salazar Rodriguez was captured by police in Cancun along with three associates and two people being held captive for ransom.