Mexico can't keep the lid on anymore: narco war kills 16 in Acapulco

This weekend marked the official takeover of tourist paradise by the kind of narco war carnage that has terrorized the country, with an estimated 12,000 dead, over the past three years. A two-hour shootout with heavy weaponry erupted when police attacked a drug cartel HQ a few blocks from the main Acapulco strip of Boulevard Miguel Aleman and claimed 16 lives (some reports said18).  At least one police officer died, according to reports, and four officers were later found gagged and bound in the house, but alive. This kind of public shootout in a tourist haven like Acapulco shines a public spotlight on Mexico's narco wars in a way that will surely impact on tourism. Associated Press released a video:

  

This has been coming for a long time in Acapulco, as it has been in other cities popular with tourists. The Mexican and U.S. governments argue the full-scale violence over three years results from the Felipe Calderon government's crackdown on the narco trade. Drug-trafficking experts in Mexico, as well as NGOs, see other reasons behind the government's military response to the drug cartels. I've gone into that in other blogs. In any case, with this weekend's violence at one of the country's most popular tourist sites, any attempt to maintain an image that killings occur largely in border cities and among the cartels themselves - with little impact on tourists - has been shattered.

In Guerrero state, with its Pacific beach resorts of Acapulco, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa and Puerto Vallarta (which readers correct as being on Jalisco/Nayarit border), the cartel rivalry is thought to be mainly between the established Bertran Leyva gang and the Sinaloa Cartel muscling in from the north. A top Beltran Leyva gunman was believed to have been in the Acapulco house and killed.

There will be a price beyond human life to pay and, unfortunately, it will impact upon poor Mexicans who eke out a living from the tourist business. It's becoming increasingly clear that throwing the army at the problem is not working. Narco-trafficking as a parallel economy, with cadres of supporters in high places, is too entrenched in the fabric of the country. Moreover, social problems at the heart of the narco epidemic - from farmers who depend on sales of marijuana or poppy to unemployment and social rootlessness - must be addressed. Otherwise, expect more than lids blowing up; expect the entire stove to explode.

Here's Universal's report on the shootout.

And scratch what I said yesterday about not writing about narco-trafficking for a time.

Comments

[knows a little about Mexico]

One correction Linda, Puerto Vallarta is more than 800 kms northwest of Acapulco and the Metro Puerto Vallarta area straddles the states of Jalisco and Nayarit. In Vallarta (actually in Bucerias just north of Vallarta) there were some police killings last year just of the tourist...police and army loaded the place with checkpoints for about 3 weeks bringing traffic at times to a halt. The local expats in the area are more in denial than the Mexicans..take a look what passes for English langauge newspapers in Vallarta and the main editorial theme is how the "main stream media" in Canada and the US are destroying Mexico with false stories...sometimes they have a point with Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck but there are many North American journalist (and you are one) who do a terrific job covering Mexico

[MBG]

And I was supposed to pay $1400 to visit Dreams resort in Cancun this month for less than a week!. I'm obviously not going for multiple reasons. Mexico is one mixed up and corrupt country!

[Larry Hancock]

This article is only half completed when there is a sentence, then a phrase like this in the middle... "Drug-trafficking experts in Mexico, as well as NGOs, see other reasons behind the government's military response to the drug cartels. In any case, with this "

The author of the piece has left a large hole in the story... What are the other reasons? And then dismisses their importance with "In any case..."

Is this journalism?

Larry Hancock

[Maria]

Linda, Puerto Vallarta is in Jalisco, not in Guerrero. There's even another state in between, Michoacan.

[Jay Oiseaux]

Acapulco all but ceased being a tourist destination long before Calderon's (not Caleron as you've spelled it here, but who needs to be accurate in a post like this, right?) war on Narco-trafficking. As usual, here we have another attempt by so-called "first world" nations to belittle any nation that doesn't meet with their "approval". Spend your time writing about the circus that is going on politically in this 1)country 2)province 3)city - i.e. your own backyard - and stop trying to insult hard working people. Should people with children never come to Canada? After all we had Paul Bernardo here, and not to mention those monsters who did whatever they did with Victoria Stafford. Get off your high horse - its tired and definitely leaning to the side.

[interested observer]

There is no price beyond human life that can be paid. This is the ultimately price anyone can pay.

[Elsie Ross]

The article didn't say if any bystanders had been killed or injured.

[Blanche Dubois]

Swine flu, and now this....way to much violence. I'd rather stay in my own backyard.

[gringo]

Jay Oiseaux - apples and oranges. Mexico acknowledges that they have a chronic drug trafficking problem. Last I checked, child abductions a la Bernardo et al are not that common. And FYI while it may not be as popular as Cancun or the Mayan, Acapulco still depends on the hundreds of thousands of annual tourists it hosts as its main source of (legal) income.

[real reader]

If the Mexican authorities can't keep a lid on it, don't expect me to jump into the POT!!! (no pun intended)

[Viva Zappata]

Acapulco had it's heyday in the 70's, it's gone way downhill since, Cancun and Cabo are superb and cannot be compared with Acalpulco...It's like thinking Detroit is still the Motown of the sixties when in fact it's a wasteland now. Anyone who knows anything about Mexico will know there is a huge difference between the new and old areas.

[Big River]

It's very sad. Acapulco was beautifull in the 70's and very safe. I visited there many times.

[rj Caswell]

Okay, the violence is bad. Stay home or go some where else. I have been going to Mexico for 20 years. For the last five years, I have been disabled, I still go myself. No problems, but, then again I try to blend in where ever I go, and respect local culture. Matter of fact this past winter I stayed in a little town, very few disrespecting gringo's, people treat me and my disability better than I get treated here. If you can't handle it don't go. What eats me is that people go because it is cheaper than most places, so don't be so cheap, or stay home and spend your money in Canada.

[Ed1000]

"Otherwise, expect more than lids blowing up; expect the entire stove to explode"

Well, with the huge appetite for drugs in the US, I suspect this will be going on for a long time. The apocalyptic omen at the end of your blog entry is a bit too much. The LA times has a much more thorough series on the drug wars, which are not only happening in or about Mexico.

[Ed1000]

A sequitur on the last comment:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/canada-top-ecstasy-producer-report/article1194981/