Pubdate: Thu, 15 Apr 2010
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: AA2
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Ken Ellingwood, Reporting from Mexico City
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Mexico

Mexico Under Siege

STREET SHOOTOUT STRIKES FEAR IN ACAPULCO

As Many As Six People Are Killed As Gunmen Open Fire on Motorists and 
Federal Police

A chaotic shootout Wednesday on a hotel-lined boulevard in the beach 
resort city of Acapulco left as many as six people dead, Mexican 
authorities said.

Federal police officers patrolling the area came under fire after 
they heard gunshots and saw attackers shooting at two men in a car, 
authorities said. The gunmen also shot at other vehicles as they 
tried to flee, riddling dozens of cars with bullet holes.

The victims included a woman and her 8-year-old daughter. No tourists 
appeared to have been killed. A federal officer was also slain during 
the shootout with gunmen, which erupted on busy Miguel Aleman 
Boulevard, the main tourist drag.

Five people were wounded, according to public safety authorities in 
Guerrero state.

The midafternoon gun battle could be heard in nearby hotels. Hundreds 
of spent casings from AK-47 assault rifles -- the type favored by 
drug-gang hit men -- littered the street. Cars reportedly crashed 
into one another as innocent drivers tried to escape the shooting.

Guests and workers at the beach-side Hotel Playa Suites, next to 
where the shooting took place, were rattled by the confusing scene as 
police poured into the area.

"Police arrived and they kept our guests and workers from leaving, 
and this unfortunately caused panic among our guests," said Laura 
Toledo, a reservations manager. "Our customers weren't aware of the 
shootout, and they became alarmed when so many federal police arrived."

She said most of the guests are foreigners.

In June, 18 people were killed in a fierce battle between suspected 
drug cartel gunmen and government forces in a separate section of 
Acapulco's hotel zone, favored by Mexican visitors. None of the dead 
were tourists.

Wednesday's shootout, in one of the country's best-known resort towns 
during the spring vacation season, is unwelcome news for Mexican 
officials. Mexico has repeatedly sought to reassure tourists that 
they face little risk of being caught up in the country's escalating 
drug violence because most of it takes place far from resort areas.

More than 22,000 people have died since the government of President 
Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown against drug traffickers in 
December 2006. Most of the killings stem from feuds between rival 
trafficking groups along the U.S. border and in key trafficking zones.

Acapulco, which has sought to regain its former glory as a stylish 
tourist haven, has seen scores of drug-related gang killings during 
the last three years, though few were in areas frequented by tourists.

The resort is in the Pacific state of Guerrero, an important 
smuggling corridor and, like many other tourist spots, also coveted 
by traffickers as a market for street sales.

Turf battles among rival gangs have left more than 300 people dead in 
and around Acapulco since the Calderon administration's crackdown 
began, according to confidential government figures cited Wednesday. 
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