Police commander implicated in sexual assault of Italian woman in Playa del Carmen

Playa del Carmen

Police in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo are searching for a police commander suspected of involvement in the sexual assault of an Italian resident of Mexico.

In coordination with authorities in the neighbouring state of Yucatan, the police are on the lookout for Ramon Balainas Xicoténcalt, who allegedly committed the crime on the morning of February 12.

Two municipal officers have already been arrested and are facing charges of sexual assault and abuse of authority.

The Italian-born woman and a male companion, also Italian, had gone to a nightclub in the Playa del Carmen area ​​ to celebrate a birthday.

Her companion went into an alley to urinate, and the municipal officers, Mardonio Guzmán Gómez and José Manuel Enríquez Hernández, who were under the command of Ramón Balainas Xicoténcalt, saw them and detained them for the offense of urinating in public, demanding a “fine” of 3,000 pesos (US$250).

The two Italians argued that they didn’t have the money on them, at which point the officers handcuffed the woman's companion, and in “exchange” for the lack of payment assaulted the woman.

(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)

Twitter: @TimothyEWilson

Email: lapoliticaeslapolitica [at] gmail [dot] com

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