Private investigator Jay Armes III has revealed that four Mexican drug cartels are currently engaged in a brutal struggle for control over an 80-mile stretch of resorts along the Caribbean coast in Mexico. Their aim is to tap into the country's lucrative $30 billion tourism revenue, with tourists, including Americans, becoming unintended victims of the escalating violence.

Recent incidents include cartel members using machetes to dismember rivals in Cancun, the death of a California woman near a popular Tulum beach, and the abduction of a New York man left stranded in a secluded jungle with his eyes taped shut. Armes highlighted that such violence, although shocking to outsiders, is tragically commonplace in Mexico.

In efforts to expand their territories, these ruthless cartels, which include the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and the Grupo Regional, are now targeting areas that were once considered off-limits, such as tourist resorts that were previously regarded as safe havens.

The alarming shift in cartel behavior has caught the attention of the Mexican government, military, and law enforcement, prompting a swift response to safeguard the millions of international visitors, including nearly 34 million U.S. tourists who visited Mexico in 2022. Cancun International Airport, the main entry point for travelers, received a significant portion of these tourists, with many flocking to the gorgeous white sand beaches, unaware of the lurking danger.

Armes warned that tourists are viewed as potential customers or victims by the cartels, with the once-respected codes of conduct within the criminal underworld being disregarded as violence erupts in previously considered safe tourist hubs. The situation has become a free-for-all, with tourists at risk of being caught up in robberies, sex trafficking, or merely being innocent bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As the violence escalates and proliferates across Mexico's resort regions, the safety of international visitors hangs precariously in the balance, with the dark shadow of cartel warfare casting a stark warning over what were once idyllic vacation destinations.