Thread: Rising crime threatens Acapulco

More reasons not to travel to Mexico.

http://www.upi.com

Rising crime threatens Acapulco
ACAPULCO, Mexico, July 12 (UPI) -- Acapulco's head of security has been kidnapped and a rising crime wave threatens the resort's lucrative tourist trade.

Mayor Felix Salgado attributed the abduction of city hall security chief Eusebio Palacios by seven armed men to "political motives."

Palacio is a retired Mexican army captain. He was abducted from his vehicle carrying his wife and daughter, who were not harmed in the incident.

The Spanish news agency EFE reported Wednesday that Mexican officials believe that drug traffickers, who recently have begun a reign of terror in Acapulco, killing a number of police officers, probably took Palacio hostage.

Salgado told the press that some of the violence had political motivations, designed to intimidate the public not to vote in the July 2 elections.

Mexico's federal authorities have ordered the army and the police to step up their activities in Acapulco and surrounding towns in Guerrero state, which has seen a "war to the death" between rival drug traffickers and organized criminal gangs.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... -headlines

Man Gunned Down in Acapulco
By Associated Press

7:25 PM PDT, July 11, 2006

ACAPULCO, Mexico — A man was shot to death in front of Acapulco's City Hall and a naval officer was abducted Tuesday, the latest violence in this resort city hit by a wave of drug-related crime.

Oswaldo Moreno, 29, was attacked by a group of armed men who stopped him as he was driving near City Hall before dawn, police said. Moreno attempted to flee on foot but was shot four times, police said. A motive for the killing was not immediately known.

Police also said Lt. Marcelo Garcia, 45, was abducted later in the day by armed men who forced him into a van outside his home on the outskirts of the city.

The attacks came the day after Eusebio Palacios Ortiz, head of security for the Acapulco city government, was abducted while driving along the city's main tourist boulevard with his wife and daughter. He was still missing Tuesday.

Acapulco Mayor Felix Salgado said he would lead a march against violence this weekend.

"Our society is disgusted by these events," he said.

Acapulco, a Pacific resort 180 miles southwest of Mexico City, has been shaken this year by more than a dozen high-profile gun slayings as well as several grenade attacks on police stations.

Federal investigators link the violence to a turf war between drug gangs in northern Mexico for lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.

What a wonderful tourist destination.

Dixie