Streets of Cancun run red with 14 murders in 36 hours
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A couple walks past bullet casings at a crime scene in Cancun in January 2017. (Associated Press)
Mexico’s most popular holiday hotspot has become overrun with drug gangs, as violence in the tourist party town escalates to unprecedented levels.
Cancun has seen 14 murders in just 36 hours — the highest ever in the country’s recorded history, according to Noticaribe.
The latest violence on April 4 saw 14 people killed and at least five others left with gunshot wounds, in six separate instances in the party town.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The figures surpass Cancun’s previous record of nine killings in a day, which was set on Nov. 25, 2004.
CANCUN MURDER SURGE FUELED BY ALLEGED DRUG QUEEN'S TURF WAR
More than 100 people have been slaughtered in Cancun since the beginning of 2018, as Mexico’s cartels continue to spread fear through the country.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Mexican tourist hotspot’s growing crime wave threatens to leave it a ghost town, with most murders in Cancun remaining unsolved.
Amid a thriving drug trade and widespread extortion, fear is rampant and threatens to have a spillover effect on the country’s multibillion-dollar tourism industry.