Between 200 and 300 expatriate and Mexican residents, community and business leaders of Melaque and Barra de Navidad waited for more than an hour for a meeting in Cihuatlan’s main plaza with municipal officials, Saturday, January 7 to discuss the lack of security in their towns, which they say lead to the killing of Canadian Robin Wood, January 3 in a botched robbery attempt in Melaque.
Wood’s murder seems to be the stick that broke the camel’s back after the Costalegre community has suffered various months of robbery, vandalism and violence.
As of 10 a.m. Monday protesters mingled in front of City Hall with signs tagged with slogans: “We need the tourist police back – bilingual and trained,” “Do Your Job,” “If you don’t have enough cops, call in the Army,” “Justice for Robin,” “We need security and protection” and “More patrols.” according to a report by Marco Corral of El Correo de Manzanillo, a Spanish-language daily.
A petition, begun by the expat community in San Patricio Melaque and Villa Obregon, and signed by many more residents – both Mexican and foreign – in the villages of Barra de Navidad, Jaluco, El Aguacate and Emiliano Zapata, called for greater security.
The petition asked authorities to solve Robin Wood’s murder, put more police on the streets, institute 24-hour vigilance (according to one account the police station in Melaque closes at 6 p.m.), buy more motorcycles and ATVs for police patrols on the beach, bring back the tourist police, increase the number of streetlights and better maintain existing ones, introduce a 24-hour emergency medical and ambulance service and launch a message board for constant communication between authorities and the community.Cihuatlan Mayor Roberto Ruiz, although not present at this meeting, met for 90 minutes with some 30 expatriates the previous Saturday to hear their complaints. He has authorized the reactivation of the tourist police and their vehicles, as well as released funds to reconnect Melaque’s streetlights within the next two weeks, according to city Secretary General Fermin Avalos Zamora. The streetlights have not been working since the Hurricane Jova struck in mid-October.
As far as the investigation of Robin Wood’s murder, that is in the hands of Jalisco’s Judicial Police, said Avalos.
When some expatriates asked what they could do to help, officials mentioned that they had no increase in budget and could use some ATVs for the police.
City officials said a commission, comprised of expats and Mexican citizens, would be formed to look into area security issues. According to one long-time resident, a number of men in plain clothes – obviously not media – were taking photographs of those attending the meeting on Monday and made some there very uncomfortable.
Joanne Emery, a seven-year Barra de Navidad homeowner, who winters in the area, attended the meeting. She understands the financial constraints the municipality is under and said that “if they don’t have the money to hire ten more cops, then they just don’t have it.” She views the downturn in tourism this year as a result of U.S. and Canadian media overhyping these types of crimes.
“If this happened in my hometown of Seattle, it would have only been in the news one day,” Emery said. “I love Barra and I plan on staying.”
A farewell to Robin Wood was held at Don Bigotes Restaurant in Melaque as this edition went to print.