Is extortion tax a common practice in Playa del Carmen?
A team of cartel gunmen stormed a restaurant in Playa del Carmen and opened fire, killing the owner and wounding four others before fleeing Sunday October 6th. Authorities attributed the incident to a failure to pay a cartel extortion tax, often called a “piso.”
The attack occurred at approximately 12:30pm when two gunmen arrived on a motorcycle and opened fire with pistols, according to local reports. The owner of taqueria El Fogonazo, Gonzalo Poot Kantún, died from multiple gunshot wounds. Two employees and two customers sustained gunshot wounds inside the restaurant.
One day earlier, a pump dispatcher at a gas station in Playa, was shot and killed after a robbery that involved two people aboard a taxi.
The shooting happened around 10:45 p.m. Saturday Oct. 5th at a Pemex gas station along 115 Avenue near Mission del Carmen. According to witnesses, two subjects got out of a taxi and assaulted the gas attendant in an attempted robbery, however, when he began to fight back, he was shot.
Police and paramedics arrived at the Pemex station, however, the young attendant had already died.
While agents of the Ministerial Police were victims of a bullet attack from inside a Playa del Carmen house on Thursday October 10th.
Police were reportedly passing along on Dominicos Street in the residential area of Villas del Sol when subjects inside a home began firing at them. Police returned fire and requested support, which arrived to assist them.
Neighbors confirmed the gunfire. Before it was over, Municipal Police arrested three people and seized several weapons.
Less than two weeks ago, a group of nine men were taken into custody after physically attacking police officers stopped at a convenience store in Playa del Carmen.
The Riviera Maya Times Newsroom
