BELIZE CITY, Fri. June 25, 2021– Two Belizean men were targeted and executed in broad daylight in Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico on Thursday afternoon. Law enforcement officers in Mexico are now piecing together an investigation into the brutal deaths.
The victims, who were targeted on the beach in Tulum and shot dead, are residents of the Corozal District. They were in Tulum, unbeknownst to their loved ones back home.
The two victims were targeted while lounging on beach chairs at Playa Paraiso. Reports are that unknown men approached them and opened fire, fatally injuring one of the victims while he was lounging at the resort. The other was fatally wounded as he ran for his life. When Mexican law enforcement arrived, they found the first man suffering from gunshot injuries on one of the lounge chairs at Playa Paraiso. His condition was stabilized, and he was taken to the hospital, but he died while undergoing treatment.
The other Belizean victim, who had reportedly fled when the gunmen opened fire at Playa Paraiso, was reportedly shot by the assailants on a nearby beach, Playla Esperanza. He was found lying dead in the sand.
According to Mexican media, a third Belizean man, Ryan Aquino, was wounded by the gunmen during the attack, but survived.
The two Belizean men who were fatally wounded have since been identified as Gladimir Chable, and Chris Folgarait. Initially, Ryan Aquino was also reported dead, but reports are that he is still alive.
The mother of one of the murdered victims and the grandmother of the other deceased victim told local media that they were unaware that their boys were in Tulum and said that they had no knowledge of their activities.
Claudia Chable, mother of Gladimir Chable, told local reporters that Gladimir’s wife, her daughter-in-law, told her of troubling text messages that had been forwarded to the victim, informing him that “the boss” wanted to see him. She said that those messages had been sent before the incident by the Belizean who had been with the victims in Tulum and who was the sole survivor of the shooting incident.
The Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, had not received official confirmation from Mexican authorities of the deaths at the time he was interviewed on Friday. Up to Monday, Belize police were unable to provide local media with any solid information on the apparent murder of these Belizean citizens, despite confirmation of their tragic deaths by the men’s families.
The Police Department’s communication director, ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, told local reporters that Mexican authorities have not yet released any official information to their Belizean counterparts.