Cancún in Mexico vows to curb plastics, garbage

Cancún, the popular beach destination on Mexico's Caribbean coast, would become the country's first resort to join the UN's Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, meant to cut back on trash. The district and its hotels generate around 1,500 tons of solid trash daily, according to mayoress Ana Paty Peralta. She told the local press on 23 October that the city would join the UN program through its Destino cero residuos Cancún initiative, which she termed a new vision of tourism for the Quintana Roo state that includes Cancún. This would begin with local hotels considering actions to reduce use of silly items like plastic cutlery or straws, and include, over a three-year period, recycling and communal initiatives like cleaning up the beach or regional cave pools (cenotes). Crucially, this was a joint effort between local government and hotels, but also visitors, the head of a regional hotels' association (AHCPMIM), Rodrigo de la Peña Segura, said in turn. He added, 15 local firms were already implementing the sector's Menos plástico guidelines to reduce "plastic trash by 44%, equivalent to 100 tons every year."

Over 50 reported killed, found dead in Mexico over weekend

At least 52 were reported killed or found dead in apparent criminal incidents around Mexico over 12-14 April, media reported. Of these, at least 23 bodies were reported found in the states of Coahuila in northern Mexico, Guerrero on its western coast and Quintana Roo on the Caribbean coast through 13-14 April. These included eight bodies found in Cancún on 14 April and 10 shot in incidents in Torreón in Coahuila, CNN reported. Authorities in Cancún suspected the eight may have been killed in a house gangsters used as a body "dump" where four suspects including a 15-year-old boy were found drinking and taking drugs. They were said detained. The 23 also included the bodies of five men aged 25-35 years, found tied in the district of Atoyac de Álvarez in Guerrero, and apparently totured then executed. A message left by them, signed by one of the cartels the Caballeros Templarios, alleged they were "kidnappers and blackmailers." Atoyac is one of the districts in Guerrero where locals have turned to community policing. The review Proceso separately counted 14 presumed victims of crime for 12 April, and 14 at least appeared to have been shot or found dead on 13 April in the northern states of Durango, Chihuahua and Tamaulipas, Proceso and Milenio reported. The latter group included four dismembered, decapitated bodies found on a road in Tamaulipas on 13 April, Proceso reported, and a woman shot dead and found on 13 April in Ciudad Victoria in Tamaulipas. A note left beside her alleged she was an informant of the Defence Ministry, Proceso reported. Separately, a communiqué issued by Mexican authorities counted 1,101 homicides linked to federal offences in the 31 days of the month of March, which exceeded detentions, Proceso reported on 12 April. Victims included 40 state agents killed during service and 25 civilians thought killed by mistake, a communiqué signed by the interior ministry, the Prosecutor-General's office and the Defence and Navy ministries stated. Its figures were compiled by the National Centre for Planification, Analysis and Information to Combat Crime, CENAP (Centro Nacional de Planeación, Análisis e Información para el Combate a la Delincuencia), a body attached to the office of the Prosecutor-General of Mexico. The authorities stated that over 138,000 kilograms of cocaine were seized that month among other illegal substances, and 957 individuals detained.

Fifty or more reported killed, dead around Mexico

The review Proceso counted 30 presumed victims of crime around Mexico for 14 March, including seven gunned down in an eatery in the Caribbean resort of Cancún and 10 that included gunmen killed or found dead in incidents in the north-western state of Sinaloa. The victims of the day included: four gunmen killed by troops in a shootout in the district of Sinaloa de Leyva in Sinaloa, a body found floating in a canal in Navolato in Sinaloa, a body found half-buried in coastal Mazatlán in Sinaloa, and seven shot dead in an eatery in Cancún. These included three trade unionists representing taxi drivers who appeared to be the targets of a gun attack that killed four other customers, Proceso reported. On 15 March police killed two gunmen who opened fire on a patrol on a road between Tala and San Isidro Mazatepec in the western state of Jalisco, while a body was found in Estado de México and three were found dead or killed in shootouts in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas, Excelsior reported on 16 March. These were among 19 Proceso counted as victims of crime from late 14 through 15 March. Others were: two found shot in the head in the north-eastern city of Ciudad Victoria, with hands and feet tied and a message by them from the Zetas cartel to the rival Gulf Cartel, three suspects killed in a shootout with police in the east-coast city of Veracruz and a woman shot and killed while travelling on one of the Mexican capital's main roads, the Circuito Interior. Gunmen on a motorbike stopped her car in an apparent ambush or robbery, shortly after she and the car's driver withdrew money from a cash dispenser; the driver was injured in the shooting, Proceso reported. The 19 apparently did not include a suspected gangster shot dead by troops in the western state of Michoacán early on 15 March. The victim, identified as Dionisio Loya Plancarte, a presumed senior member of the cartel Caballeros Templarios, was one of five or more thought killed in a shootout between gunmen and the army in the district of Apatzingán. Authorities had yet to confirm the number and identities of the dead; one or more soldiers may have died, Proceso reported.