Enlarge image
Death in the tourist resort: Two vacationers were shot dead on October 22nd in Tulum, Mexico
Photo: Christian Rojas / AP
Security forces of a new special unit are supposed to protect the tourists in the Mexican Riviera Maya.
The measure is a reaction to the violent death of two foreign vacationers just under a month ago.
"In a few days, around 1,500 members of the National Guard will be deployed," announced President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Cancún.
The tourists from Germany and India got caught in a shootout between rival gangs in a bar in Tulum in October and were killed.
The Federal Foreign Office then warned Mexico vacationers in the Tulum and Playa del Carmen area on the Caribbean coast to be careful.
“Something like that mustn't be repeated.
We have to prevent that and that's why there are plans to strengthen security, «said López Obrador.
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said the new "battalion for tourist security" of the National Guard with 1,445 soldiers will be responsible for the entire Riviera Maya.
Similar units will later be used in other tourist locations.
The unit will be based in Tulum and officially start work on December 1st.
bbr / dpa