Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — A Canadian man shot to death in a Playa del Carmen parking lot has been identified as 39 year old Mathieu Bélanger from Quebec. According to local information, he was living in Playa del Carmen with his partner using false Mexican documents.
On Saturday, Bélanger was found dead in his vehicle shot five times in the head. He had just left a gym and was alone in his vehicle at the time of the targeted shooting by two men on a motorcycle.
In Canada he was a known as drug trafficker “Barbu” who had ties to the Hell’s Angels. Both he and his 33 year old partner, also from Quebec, were living in Playa del Carmen and considered fugitives. Both are reported to have been part of a criminal organization in Canada that supplied narcotics to the Hell’s Angels, a lifestyle they reportedly continued in Mexico.
They had been living in Playa del Carmen two years after relocating from Oaxaca. Barbu is reported to have continued his Canadian-linked criminal activity in Playa del Carmen in the form of cocaine trafficking.
Mathieu Bélanger was arrested by Playa del Carmen police in April 2024. Bélanger was stopped by the SSC (Secretary of Citizen Security) of Solidaridad in a federal highway filter in April 2024 and arrested after police found a revolver, ammunition and what appeared to be a large quantity of methamphetamines in his vehicle. He was later released.
The SSC (Secretaría de Seguridad Ciudadana) of Solidaridad seized his truck at the time during the April 2024 arrest. He was shot Saturday while inside a different vehicle.
According to media outlet Le Journal de Montreal, Bélanger was wanted in Canada by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) for unauthorized possession of a firearm and improper storage.
His partner, Andrée-Ann Vignola “S”, 33, is also reportedly wanted by Quebec police on firearm charges. Both are from Repentigny, Quebec. The couple moved to Quintana Roo from Oaxaca in 2022. She remains in Playa del Carmen with their children.
According to the line of local investigations, Mathieu Bélanger was executed Saturday in a targeted shooting by members of the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.
