Local security officials found ten bodies scattered throughout Mexico’s once-glamorous beach city of Acapulco, which has suffered from cartel-related violence.
The public security agency reported that on Monday night, they left the bodies of two women and four men on an avenue near a market. Local media reported that a car tossed the bodies out.
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Officials reported that a shooting in the Emiliano Zapata area claimed three lives and injured three more.
The city’s tourism area discovered another man dead from gunshot wounds.
Over the last decade, the bloodshed that has made Acapulco one of the world’s most violent towns has scared off foreign tourists, causing it to lose its shine as a playground for the affluent and famous. The city is also still fighting to recover from Category 5 Hurricane Otis, which struck in October. It killed at least 52 people and destroyed or severely damaged the majority of hotels.
Acapulco is located in the state of Guerrero, which is one of the country’s most heavily trafficked. The United States State Department encourages Americans to avoid six Mexican states entirely, citing crime and violence. In 2023, cartel disputes resulted in 1,890 murders in the state.
Since at least 2006, Acapulco has been rife with turf wars between gang members. The gangs compete for drug sales and cash by extorting protection payments from businesses, bars, buses, and taxi drivers.
Deadly trend continues in Acapulco
Acapulco has already seen a surge in violence this year. Last month, gunmen opened fire on the head of traffic police on a street far from the resort’s beaches, resulting in his death.
In February, authorities discovered the strangled bodies of two men on Acapulco’s famed Condesa Beach. Prosecutors claimed the men’s bodies showed traces of “torture by ligature” and “signs of torture around the neck.”
That same month, the state government sent 60 gun-toting detectives to guard the beaches “in light of the violent events that have occurred recently.”
Around the same time, gunmen who arrived by boat shot and killed at least three people on the beaches in Acapulco.
In April 2023, a shooting and subsequent police chase at an Acapulco beachfront restaurant resulted in the deaths of three people. According to officials, cops pursued the perpetrators down the beach as they were “escaping towards the sea.”
More than 450,000 people have died in Mexico as a result of spiraling criminal violence since then-President Felipe Calderon’s government launched a military offensive against drug gangs in 2006.
Mexico has lately experienced a wave of political violence ahead of the June 2 elections. According to the NGO Data Civica, more than two dozen politicians have been assassinated since September of last year, including a mayoral candidate who was shot dead last month just as she began her campaign.
