Explosives Found on Ferry Near Cancun Trigger U.S. Warning

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. issued a security alert after explosives were found aboard a passenger ferry near the beach resort of Cancun in Mexico, one week after a blast on a boat owned by the same person injured dozens of tourists.

U.S. government employees are prohibited from using all tourist ferries in Cozumel and Playa del Carmen and Americans should purchase travel insurance that includes medical evacuations if traveling to those areas, the alert states.

The latest explosives were discovered on March 1 aboard Caribe 2 in Cozumel, owned by Roberto Borge Martin, the father of former Governor Roberto Borge, who is currently under arrest on charges of mishandling public funds, according to Reforma newspaper. Borge Martin was aboard another boat that exploded on Feb. 21, but was unhurt. Some Americans were injured in that incident.

In August, the U.S. issued a warning to citizens traveling to Cancun, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, saying turf wars between crime gangs had led to a surge in violence. In Quintana Roo state, which includes the former three resorts, murders doubled last year, as homicides in all of Mexico rose to their highest since at least the turn of the century.

The expanded travel advisory hit at the heart of a tourism industry that brings in $20 billion a year for Mexico. Quintana Roo gets 10 million tourists a year, a third of the national total.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson, Philip Sanders

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