Pubdate: Sun, 19 Mar 2006
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2006 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Ioan Grillo, Associated Press

DRUG VIOLENCE UNNERVES ACAPULCO

Gangs Threaten Sense Of Security In Resort City

ACAPULCO, Mexico - Ana Galeana was arranging geraniums at her 
Acapulco flower stall when heavily armed men in a convoy of jeeps 
opened fire on a police checkpoint across the street.

When she and her 5-year-old daughter finally emerged from hiding 
behind a crate of roses, four gunmen were dead, several policemen 
were seriously injured and bullet holes scarred the church and 
storefronts along one of the main avenues into the resort town.

"When you think of Acapulco you imagine beaches and discos, not a war 
zone," said Galeana, 25, pointing at a gaping bullet hole in her wooden stall.

In the past, the granddaddy of Mexican tourist towns was hardly 
touched by the gangland carnage seen elsewhere in the country. But 
this year, the city of more than 720,000 has been shaken by 15 
execution-style slayings, four grenade attacks on police stations and 
the Jan. 27 shootout.

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

The bloodshed in Acapulco poses one more headache for President 
Vicente Fox, whose administration already has been rattled by 
drug-related violence on the U.S. border. Acapulco lies on a major 
drug route to the United States, and Mexicans worry for the nation's 
nearly $12 billion foreign tourism industry.

"The Mexican government has let the violence spiral out of control 
and now it's gone from the border to Acapulco," said the University 
of Miami's Bruce Bagley, an expert on drug violence. "This is very 
serious. We are talking about the potential loss of $1 billion to $2 billion."

The bloodshed does not appear to have deterred visitors yet. So far 
this year, Acapulco's hotel occupancy is up 9 percent from the same 
period last year, a trend that could break last year's record of 
nearly 6 million visitors, said Teresa de Jesus Rivas, Acapulco's 
tourism director.

The resort also has benefited from Hurricane Wilma, which battered 
Mexico's Caribbean coast in October. Many vacationers, especially 
spring-breakers, have switched from Cancun to Acapulco on the Pacific.

U.S. citizens, the majority of foreign visitors, have not been 
victims, although a State Department advisory warns travelers to 
Acapulco to "be vigilant in their personal safety."

Bernadette Feazell, 58, a native of Waco, Texas, who runs a 
bed-and-breakfast in Acapulco, said tourists have little to fear -- 
as long as they watch out for the jeeps.

"If you see someone in a Jeep Liberty and they're young and they have 
no hair, then you get out of the way," Feazell said, sitting in her 
house with a stunning view of Acapulco's bay. "People here will now 
move out of the path of a Jeep Liberty faster than a fire truck."

The government has sent more than 200 federal paramilitary police to 
Acapulco, and soldiers have raided several luxury houses, finding 
arsenals of automatic rifles and grenades and large bundles of 
cocaine and marijuana. Federal Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca 
says municipal police, who used to be underprepared or in league with 
traffickers, now are confronting the criminals.

Acapulco Mayor Felix Salgado said tourists are protected, but he 
fears for his personal safety because drug gangs increasingly are 
targeting public officials. In July, a former state attorney general 
was killed in a drive-by shooting outside a famous Acapulco hotel.

"We are all worried about our safety," Salgado said. "Narco-violence 
is something that threatens the whole world."

Javier Ruiz, a lawyer in Acapulco, said TV footage of the Acapulco 
firefight left him with mixed feelings.

The violence was disturbing, but seeing the cops win the shootout was 
inspiring, he said.

"In Acapulco we have always thought of the city police as being 
useless," he said. "For a moment we saw them as heroes."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom