Pubdate: Sat, 10 Feb 2007
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Jo Tuckman, in Mexico City The Guardian
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Mexico  (Mexico)

DRUG WARS CAST A LONG SHADOW OVER ACAPULCO'S FUTURE

Mexico's Tourism Trade At Risk As Cartels Attack Police In Videoed
Street Massacre

Assaults on police stations killing seven, a chopped-up body discarded
in rubbish bags, three execution-style murders and foreign tourists
grazed by bullets: it's been a nasty week in the resort city of
Acapulco, defying a much-flaunted crackdown on drug-related violence
and delivering a serious blow to Mexico's tourism industry.

Drug wars killed more than 2,000 people last year in Mexico, and the
state did little more than pick up the bodies.

President Felipe Calderon took office in December, and staked much of
his political capital on showing the warring cartels that he is the
boss with a massive security operation involving 25,000 troops and
police.

"He didn't have much choice," said political commentator Jorge Zepeda.
"The problem had got completely out of control." But despite the
roadblocks, air surveillance and boasts of intensive intelligence
gathering - as well as the extradition of some important kingpins to
the United States - the killing continues and there have been few arrests.

The 190 drug-related murders in January was a slight improvement on
last year, but February could hardly have started worse. "We are going
to persevere with this difficult and arduous battle requiring great
sacrifice from Mexicans," Mr Calderon said this week. "But rest
assured that we are going to win, and Mexico will be free."

The attacks on police stations in Acapulco were among the most
spectacular so far in the bloody turf wars between the Gulf Cartel and
the Sinaloa Federation - Mexico's main drug trafficking groups.

Dressed as soldiers and claiming to be carrying out a weapons
inspection, the "commandos" first disarmed the police. They then
opened fire while the massacre was recorded on video. Detectives later
found a small arsenal of assault rifles, pistols, and grenades, in
safe houses and getaway cars, along with military uniforms and a
message reading, "We don't give a shit about the federal
government".

It was bloody, brazen, and certainly not the news Acapulco's business
leaders wanted to be discussing as the sun set over the resort's
massive hotels, tacky beach discos, legendary cliff divers and luxury
residences tucked away in exclusive coves beyond the main sweeping
bay. Acapulco had already suffered shocking violence - evidence of
which included a severed head washed up on the sand and two others
stuck on poles outside a building last year. But the military
operations were supposed to at least curb such violence.

Felix Salgado, Acapulco's mayor, regularly receives death threats and
is protected by 12 bodyguards. "I hope this doesn't affect the tourist
image," he said, adding that patrols "guarantee the safety of visitors".

But the patrols cannot guarantee safety. Last Saturday two Canadian
tourists were grazed by bullets fired from a car on the city's coastal
boulevard.

Militarisation

Tourism in Mexico employs 2 million workers and attracts around 20
million foreigners a year, including about 250,000 Britons. Numbers
fell slightly last year partly, officials admit, because of the violence.

"The only answer is to militarise more," a source within the federal
tourism ministry said. "But it gets to a point where the military
presence itself scares people away."

Despite fears of human rights abuses as a result of the militarisation
of domestic security, the operations have so far enjoyed cross-party
support.

There is wide recognition in Mexico that most local civilian police
forces are as likely to provide security for a drug lord's wedding
party as bring him to justice, while the army is both far better
trained and relatively clean.

The biggest risk, some analysts say, is that now they are exposed to
the cartels on a regular basis more soldiers will follow in the
footsteps of the Zetas - a hit squad formed from military deserters in
the late 1990s.

"We could have the paramilitarisation of drug trafficking in Mexico,"
said a drug expert, Luis Astorga. "It would take the war to a whole
other level."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek