• VIOLENCE The execution of five men at a bus terminal in Cuernavaca -the capital city of Morelos state- brought to light once more the violent spiral in this Central Mexico state that has seen a 35% increase in murders in 2019 when compared with the same period last year, per official data.
• GANGS One of the smallest states in Mexico, Morelos (pop. 1.9 million) is seeing a violent wave (660 murders) comparable to previous one in 2012; local authorities are linking it to a rearrangement among criminal groups after the arrest of the leader of “Los Rojos” gang in August.
• QUOTE “The escalation of violence in recent days has us very worried. The executions…at the bus terminal put the next season of long weekend holidays at risk”, says Antonio Sánchez Purón, president of the local tourism chamber in Cuernavaca, long known for its warm and stable weather.
• TOURISM Despite a rise in violence across the country during the past decade, Morelos received 1.6 million of tourists in 2016 of which 1.4 million were Mexican tourists -of which 689 thousand remained in Cuernavaca- according to the latest figures available from Mexico’s Tourism Ministry.
