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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2006 
Officials Worry About Spreading Violence in Acapulco
 Hugh Dellios - Chicago Tribune
| | The body of a man killed in a shootout lies on a street in Acapulco, in the Mexican state of Guerrero, January 27, 2006. At least four people died in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco in a shootout on Friday between police and drug hitmen firing assault weapons and throwing grenades, according to witnesses. (Reuters/Estela Molina) |
Mexico City With spring break coming and college students making plans, tourism officials in Acapulco are worried that the resort city's image may now include bloody shootouts along with the beach, bikinis and beer parties.
In recent weeks, that image has included four drug traffickers lying dead in the street just five minutes from the hotel zone, town merchants marching in the streets against drug-related violence and the mayor declaring that he is scared.
President Vicente Fox sent dozens of federal police agents into Mexico's second-largest tourist resort after a downtown gunbattle between police and drug traffickers Jan. 27. City and Nayarit state officials have pleaded for help in stopping a turf battle between two violent drug cartels.
Officials warn that the situation could deteriorate to the level of drug violence that has racked Nuevo Laredo, Tamaul- ipas, and other border towns, even as state officials try to reassure tourists that the violence has not targeted vacationers and that their visits will be safe.
"These are lamentable acts that could damage the image of any place," said Agustin Serrano, director general of tourism planning for the state of Guerrero. "These are isolated incidents, but nevertheless, they are a real concern."
Serrano said Acapulco, which is becoming as popular as Cancϊn, Quintana Roo, for spring breakers, expects an influx of more than 35,000 college students beginning at the end of this month. To date, he said, no hotels have reported cancellations, and 60 percent of the hotel rooms are occupied despite the surge in violence.
More than 5 million tourists visit Acapulco each year, including nearly 1 million Americans and other foreigners. After a number of slow years, the resort's popularity had been picking up again.
But the recent shootout crystallized concerns about drug traffickers in Acapulco and the support they may be getting from corrupt police. It came as U.S. officials have been more vocal than usual in expressing concerns about drug violence across Mexico.
John Negroponte, the U.S. director of national intelligence, cited Mexico at a congressional hearing recently as being among a list of countries in which drug traffickers threaten to undermine the government. The other countries were Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Haiti and Jamaica.
"A vicious cycle can develop in which a weakened government enables criminals to dangerously undercut the state's credibility and authority," Negroponte said.
His remarks came after criticisms in recent weeks by Tony Garza, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, about Mexico's seriousness in dealing with the drug violence. Mexican officials have defended their actions, emphasizing that the United States also has a role in the battle.
"This problem . . . isn't attributable to only one of the two countries," Geronimo Gutierrez, a deputy foreign minister, said in response to Negroponte's comments. "There is demand (for drugs), and there is supply."
Mexico's attorney general, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, has said 18 drug capos have been arrested during Fox's tenure. He said those arrests have unleashed turf battles among other capos, but he also asserted that a reduction in cocaine demand in the United States is contributing to the violence.
"Young people (in the U.S.) now prefer synthetic drugs, and that has caused an oversupply of drugs arriving (in Mexico) from Colombia. . . . And that is mainly the origin of this violence," Cabeza de Vaca said.
Officials say Acapulco has become an important trafficking port for drugs from South America. But it also has developed its own drug consumption problem, with at least 1,000 little "narco stores" on its streets. And the city's tourism trade provides prime opportunities for money laundering. |
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