The plague rave DJs who went to Tulum to play amidst a huge wave of Covid-19 earlier this year have a few things in common. They all left their consciences at home. They all got paid a significant amount of money. They all spread around a virus which potentially has deadly consequences.

And now it appears they brought yet another thing to the party – and no, it wasn’t their gargantuan egos and sense of entitlement. It wasn’t even the invariably crap music they played – ever noticed that in the videos of plague raves which emerged online, the tracks being played were never anything remotely interesting or fun?

No, it was crime. The local crime syndicates took a great deal of interest in what was going on at the time, and the results are now clear to see. Between January and September 2021, the number of people being murdered within Tulum rose by 80%.

And according to The Guardian, “Hoteliers have blamed growing demand for narcotics on a boom in festivals and parties, which continued throughout the pandemic. One bar worker said establishments face a choice of paying protection money, permitting drug sales on their premises, or shutting down.”.

The article also mentions they bring environmental destruction with them, and they result in rivers being poisoned – literally. With no toilet facilities, faeces and urine are ending up in the water supply – with potentially dangerous consequences. Oh, and the loud music is resulting in birds being killed as they head towards motorways to escape the noise.

The original illegal ravers of the 1980s – who the plague rave DJs are sometimes compared to – left the areas they partied in clean, as if they were never there, and they made a fraction of the money. Plague rave DJs, on the other hand, care only about the money…

By The Editor

Editor-in-chief at Amateur’s House.