Cancun, Q.R. — On December 1, Cancun deployed 750 National Guard elements that arrived as the city’s new tourist battalion. On their first full day, the teams of National Guard elements began patrolling streets and beaches of Cancun.
Cancun mayor Mara Lezama, along with state officials, were on hand for the official receiving of the men and women who make up the city’s newest security force.
“Today is a historic day for Benito Juárez. The promise of our President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who announced the arrival of the Tourist Security Battalion, is a reality. We have this group to start operations as part of the work to restore peace in the municipality of Benito Juárez,” she said.
The head of the National Defense Secretariat, Luis Crescencio Sandoval said that the Tourist Security Battalion will be utilized in Cancun and Riviera Maya. He detailed that of the 1,445 National Guard elements arriving, the 750 posted in Isla Mujeres will patrol Cancun, while the remaining 695 will be sent to patrol Riviera Maya, from Puerto Morelos to Tulum.
Governor Carlos Joaquin said that the 1,445 National Guard personnel will have a presence in five municipalities of Quintana Roo, adding “the sum of efforts between the state government, the federation and the municipalities will be decisive in the strategies that have been undertaken in the entity to guarantee the safety of both visitors and residents of Quintana Roo.”
He reported that the Tourist Security Battalion began operations at the facilities of the State Security Coordination in the Military City of Isla Mujeres and is part of the Plan to Strengthen Security Actions in Quintana Roo.
Joaquin explained that it is a coordinated effort between the federation, states and municipalities to combat criminal organizations and to support the corresponding instances for the prosecution and detention of the main generators of violence.
The battalion is made up of 1,445 elements that will be deployed, according to needs, in the municipalities of Benito Juárez, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos, Solidaridad and Tulum, under the command of Commander Pedro González Núñez.
The members of the Tourist Security Battalion received proximity and protection courses for national and foreign visitors with the intention that this strategy can be replicated in the main tourist centers of the country.
