Advertisement

Should the latest Canadian deaths in Mexico make you reconsider a winter break there?

The latest killing of two Canadian snowbirds in Mexico is bound to revive the debate over whether it's a safe destination for tourists. The question is, should it?

Eighty-four-year-old Edward Kular of Toronto and 67-year-old Nina Discombe of Ottawa have been identified as the victims of what Mexican police believe was a weekend robbery at their home in the town of Ajijic, Global News reported.

The lakeside community in the municipality of Chapala, in the state of Guadalajara, is a popular spot for Canadian and American retirees, and the murdered Canadians had been living there for about six months, Global News said.

Kular, clad in his underwear, was apparently struck on the head and Discombe, wearing a robe, was stabbed with a kitchen knife, suggesting they interrupted the robbers. Their bodies were discovered by an employee bringing a jug of chlorine for their pool, according to the Guadalajara Reporter, which covers the expat community.

Local police told the newspaper the house had been ransacked and Kular's minivan with Ontario plates was missing.

[ Related: Canadian couple slain in popular Mexico retirement community ]

However, Alejandro Grattan, a friend of the victims and editor of the English-language El Ojo del Lago newspaper, told CBC News he's skeptical about the police's theory of the crime.

"They both were beaten up savagely before they were killed, and you know, that's not exactly the kind of thing that somebody who's just there to steal money and jewelry is going to do," Grattan said.

Mexico is the No. 2 destination for Canadian travellers, behind the United States. Canadians made almost 1.6 million trips there in 2012, according to Statistics Canada data cited by CBC News. That figure has grown steadily (it was 1.2 million in 2009) despite regular reports of Canadians being attacked.

One of the highest-profile cases happened in 2006 when an Ontario couple was murdered in their hotel room while attending their daughter's wedding at a resort near Playa del Carmen.

Police initially tried to pin the killings on two Canadian women also staying at the hotel, who had no connection with the murdered couple. Eventually they settled on a hotel security guard as the prime suspect but he has never been found.

Other murder cases involving Canadians have also gone unsolved.

[ Related: How much should crime factor into a Mexican winter getaway? ]

While Ottawa's latest advisory on Mexico advises travellers to exercise a high degree of caution because of continued violence linked to drug cartels, it says most popular tourist regions are relatively safe. That includes the Lake Chapala area where Kular and Discombe were killed.

The government's most recent annual report on consular activity, covering 2011, shows the vast majority of the 1,182 reported deaths of Canadians abroad that year were due to natural causes, with China, the U.S. and Mexico accounting for most of them. Mexico, however, topped the list for the number of reported assaults – 50 out of 224 cases in 2011, with China well behind at 19 cases.

However, CBC News reported in 2012 that three Canadians were assaulted or killed for every 100,000 visits in the decade 2000-2010. By comparison, the rate for China was more than seven per 100,000 visits, followed by Jamaica with five. The United States was comparatively safe, with an overall rate of 0.088, likely driven by the high volume of cross-border visits by Canadians.

The message from the numbers seems to be that while you should take sensible precautions when spending time in Mexico – avoid the drug-cartel war zones, pay attention to the security of your lodgings – there's little reason to cross the country off your winter-break short list.