MEXICO CITY (AP) – The Mexican government says it is tightening security at tourist sites following large-scale riots. Man opens fire on tourists at pyramids In the suburbs of Mexico City, less than two months until the FIFA World Cup.
Monday’s shooting, carried out by a lone gunman atop the pyramids of Teotihuacan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Mexico’s most-visited tourist attractions, left one Canadian tourist dead and more than a dozen others injured.
Also, the next morning, reporters asked Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum a series of questions about what security measures Mexico is taking ahead of the summer sports tournament that Mexico will co-host with the United States and Canada.
Teotihuacan, about an hour from Mexico City, was to be a key destination for visitors during the festival. Days before the shooting, local lawmakers also pushed for an effort to reinstate the nighttime interactive light show projected onto the pyramids for World Cup attendees. The show was suspended early in the coronavirus pandemic.
The unexpected violence comes as the Sheinbaum administration has gone to great lengths to project an image of safety ahead of the soccer tournament following a surge in violence. Cartel violence in World Cup host city in February of Guadalajara.
“Events like this only add to the negative image Mexico has on security issues and undermine President Sheinbaum’s claims that Mexico is a safe country,” said Mexican security analyst David Saucedo.
“Isolated incident”
Sheinbaum said Tuesday that he acknowledged that the site partially lacked security filters to prevent the attack because the shooting was an “isolated incident” that had never occurred in a public place like this before.
Mexico suffers from cartel violence, particularly in strategic and rural areas, but public shootings are rare in Mexico compared to the United States, where guns are much more readily available legally.
She said the shooter was influenced by “outside influences,” especially The Columbine massacre occurred in Colorado in 1999.
“Our duty as a government is to take appropriate steps to ensure that a situation like this never happens again. But obviously we all know, Mexicans know, that this is something that has never happened before,” Sheinbaum said Tuesday morning.
Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Halfuch, who is in charge of the government’s crackdown on cartels, said on Tuesday that security forces had been ordered to “immediately increase security” at archaeological sites and major tourist sites across the country.
He said the government would increase the presence of the Mexican National Guard, strengthen security inspections of key locations and strengthen surveillance systems to “identify and thwart any threats” to citizens and visitors.
Security concerns ahead of the World Cup
The announcement was an effort by Mexican authorities to allay concerns about continued violence in the country ahead of the games.
The Sheinbaum administration has touted its security successes under her leadership. Since her appointment, murders have plummeted to the lowest level in a decade, according to government figures. The government also eliminated a number of top capos and highlighted a decline in fentanyl seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But in recent months, they’ve hit a hurdle. Riots break out in Guadalajara It was triggered by the murder of Mexico’s most powerful cartel boss in February. The bloodshed sparked concern from people in Mexico and abroad. Sheinbaum assured there was “no risk” for fans attending the tournament, while FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he had “full confidence” in Mexico as host nation. sheinbaum Afterwards, he met with FIFA representatives. to assess the security of world cup The match will be held in Mexico.
The Mexican government has doubled its security efforts, deploying 100,000 security forces across the country, with a particular focus on the three host cities of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Officials said they would deploy more than 2,000 military vehicles, as well as dozens of aircraft and drones, to set up security perimeters around stadiums and airports in major cities.
“As you can see, we are very ready for the World Cup,” Sheinbaum said in early March.
Despite the rare nature of Monday’s Pyramid shooting, the extreme act of violence reignited criticism in some quarters of the government’s ability to prevent violence during soccer tournaments and renewed pressure on the government.
FIFA has been asked to comment on the Pyramid shooting incident, but the football association does not normally address safety issues or incidents that occur away from tournament venues.
Saucedo, the security analyst, said pressure to concentrate security in host cities and tourist destinations like Teotihuacan could come at the expense of other crime-prone regions, where the need for police and military is greater.
“Events like what happened yesterday in Teotihuacan clearly show that public security institutions are overwhelmed,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report from Geneva.
