Violence in Acapulco in the Last Days Despite the Mexican Army Reinforcing Security

In the last three days alone, nine murders have been registered in Acapulco's low-crime neighborhoods and the port's tourist areas.

Violence in Acapulco in the Last Days Despite the Mexican Army Reinforcing Security
A military man guards a beach in Acapulco, during the Christmas season. Photo: Alejandrino González via Notimex

Murders have been on the rise in Acapulco in recent days despite the arrival of 600 Mexican Army troops to reinforce security in the port where the Tianguis Turístico will be held from May 22-25. In the last three days, nine murders have been registered in broad daylight and neighborhoods with a low crime rate, as well as in tourist areas.

Last Tuesday, three people were killed by firearms in less than eight hours, one of them in the tourist zone, another in Costa Azul, and the third in Colonia Progreso. A gunshot wound was also reported. On Wednesday there were three murders registered in the western zone of Acapulco, a few meters from each other, and these were attacks on shopkeepers, according to authorities.

Yesterday, before 9:00 a.m., there was already a report of three people killed by firearms. The bodies were found in bags and with traces of torture. Even though authorities from the three levels of government are making changes in the security strategy and incorporating more police officers to patrol the streets of Acapulco, insecurity in the city has not diminished and continues to increase.

On the other hand, and concerned about the increase in intentional homicides in the port, members of the National Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Services (Canaco-Servitur) asked that security reinforcements are not "patched up" and that they be definitive to reduce crime rates.

More than one thousand state, federal, military, and naval elements make up the security operation for the Tianguis Turístico Acapulco 2022.

The state governor, Evelyn Salgado, informed that the operative scheme includes 81 elements, 13 patrols, 14 motorcycle patrols, an armored vehicle, and two canine binomials, in addition to the 110 personnel and 20 patrols deployed in the different citizen attention points.

For its part, the State Attorney General's Office provided 17 agents, two mobile units of the Public Prosecutor's Office, and 92 elements of the Ministerial Investigation Police, which will be divided in support of the Public Prosecutor's Office agents and under the command of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) and the Navy.