Tourism Surfer killings highlight Mexico's violent undercurrents

The killings of the Australian brothers Callum and Jake T Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad have highlighted the shifting and uncertain fault lines of risk in Mexico, which is simultaneously a major tourism destination and a country with hotspots of extraordinary violence.

- Thomas Graham

The trio, who went missing last month in the Pacific coast state of Baja California while on a surfing trip, were later found dead, each with a gunshot to the head. Mexican authorities believe they were killed while resisting attackers who wanted to steal their car tyres.

The man accused of the killings, Jesús Gerardo, known as "El Kekas", is in custody, with murder charges expected to be filed. His girlfriend, who is also in custody, reportedly gave evidence in court saying he had told her: "I killed them." The court also heard he had given her a mobile phone and shown her the allegedly stolen tyres on her car.

Last year was the sixth consecutive year that Mexico recorded more than 30,000 homicides. More than 100,000 people are also missing. But beneath the national statistics, violence is heavily concentrated in certain states.

Falko Ernst, a Mexico analyst for the nonprofit organisation Crisis Group, said: "Baja California is one of them - but even there the bulk of homicides occur in Tijuana, and mostly in the poor areas."

The violence in Baja California reflects the volume of criminal business in the state, but also the instability of the criminal system.

Tijuana is the biggest border city in Mexico, which means huge flows of people, goods and cash going to and from the US every day. That makes the city itself a prize to control, with a big local drug market and opportunities for money laundering.