CANCUN — Acoording to Riviera Maya News, as the current mayor of Cancun completes his first year, he says insecurity remains a top concern for his administration.
Benito Juárez municipality mayor Remberto Estrada Barba acknowledges that insecurity is the main problem facing his government but points out that it’s more than a lack of a prompt response from police. The problem is due to the rapid growth of Cancun.
He explains that while crime prevention is the responsibility of the federal government, social networks often overreact to criminal behavior such as commercial robberies and assaults. The mayor says this type of overreaction on social media has a negative influence, especially in the area of insecurity.
Estrada Barba says social media plays a large part in magnifying the criminal events that take place in Cancun. Misinformation, he says, is what occurs to transform a small event into a serious situation, such as a shooting.
“An assault, so-of-speak, that is small becomes a very large assault across social media and has a major impact. You have to be very responsible with the information,” he says.
Estrada Barba does admit though, that the number of shootings that have been allegedly linked to organized crime is a serious problem and that these crimes of common law cause public insecurity.
Cancun mayor, Remberto Estrada Barba (Photo: Riviera MAya News)
“We are experiencing a crisis of insecurity throughout the country,” he says. “Cancun, Quintana Roo, have been victims of it. We must be very clear. What we have as red lights are high-impact crimes, crimes that are mainly the responsibility of the Federation,” he says.
He adds that the city of Cancun also suffers from the onslaught of common law crimes such as robberies, which highlights the slow response time of local police. The city leader admits that Cancun has grown a lot, requiring more police presence and more equipment.
“Those of us who live here know that we have grown exponentially, so of course we have to have more police, more equipment, more presence, but we have been able to reduce common law crimes,” he points out.
Emphasizing that Julian Leyzaola continues to provide his services as an adviser on public safety, the mayor says he will not hesitate to make the necessary changes in the local police department to keep the peace.
“I will not hesitate to strengthen or make the necessary modifications in public safety to maintain peace and tranquility. We will hire whoever is necessary.”
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