And while cartel fears are stoked by stories spread across social media, Arnold says that even with all that has been reported to be happening across the border, the Mexican Federal government is still in charge and maintains command and control over the larger municipalities and areas.
Oscar Arnold, Belize Ambassador to Mexico
"From my perspective and for the briefings we receive and the meetings I attend, the federal government is still very much in control. Understand that at all levels: there is the federal level, you have state level and you have the municipal level. And depending on the type of government that you have at those levels, depending on the state that you live in, depending on the level of seriousness of the individuals who hold those positions, what you will see that different states rank higher than others simply because of the individuals and the priorities that they put and the amount of resources they have to spend. I mentioned earlier that the entire Quintana Roo, the entire Riviera Maya area is very important not only to the state government but to the Federal government for the tourist dollars. And so they have done a lot and they have invested a lot to try to make tourists feel safe and to have them not reconsider visiting but still remain a priority. At the municipal level it is still a little bit more difficult because some municipalities do not have the level of resources that others have. A week ago I was in a meeting and we understand, for example like Guadalajara is one of the places where a lot of these types of activities happen but when we met with the security personnel there and they explained to us the amount of cameras that they have under vigilance almost two 17 story buildings that they use just to monitor all the activities and they can tie into the cameras of the businesses as well and they have combatted a lot of the criminal activity. The issue that we face now is that one shooting or one targeted shooting in Quintana Roo or Chetumal we already know it is the cartel. My job here as the representative of the people and GOB is to try and ensure our Belizeans are safe. We have a great working relationship, bilateral relationship with the Mexicans and so I have to balance that with being very responsible with what I report but my ultimate responsibility is to the people of Belize."
