Ten dead were discovered strewn over Acapulco, Mexico, the once-glamorous vacation city that has been rocked by cartel-related violence, according to local security officials.
The public security agency reported that on Monday night, the dead of four males and two women were found on an avenue close to a market. The bodies were reportedly thrown from a car, according to local media.
According to officials, three individuals were shot and killed in the Emiliano Zapata area, while three more were injured.
Authorities discovered another man in the city’s tourist area who had been shot to death.
Acapulco used to be a haven for the wealthy and famous, but in the past ten years, carnage has made it one of the most violent towns in the world, frightening away foreign visitors.
Additionally, the city is currently having trouble recovering from October’s Category 5 Hurricane Otis. At least 52 people were killed by Otis, which also damaged or destroyed most hotels.
Part of Guerrero state, which is among the worst hit by drug trafficking nationwide, includes Acapulco. Citing crime and violence, it is one of six Mexican states that the U.S. State Department strongly urges Americans to stay away from. In 2023, there were 1,890 homicides in the state as a result of cartel disputes.
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Acapulco’s deadly tendency is still ongoing
This year has already seen a wave of violence in Acapulco. The head of traffic police was shot and killed just a month ago when gunmen opened fire on him on a roadway a good distance from the resort’s beaches.
Two men’s strangled bodies were discovered in February on Acapulco’s well-known Condesa beach. As per the prosecution, the men’s bodies displayed indications of “torture by ligature” and “signs of torture around the neck.”
Sixty armed detectives were sent by the state government to guard the beaches that same month “in light of the violent events that have occurred recently.”
At least three persons were shot dead on Acapulco beaches at the same time, one of them by gunmen who arrived on a boat and managed to flee.
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Three persons were slain in April 2023 in an Acapulco oceanfront restaurant shooting, followed by a police pursuit. Police pursued the attackers down the beach, according to officials, as they were “escaping towards the sea.”
More than 450,000 people have been killed in Mexico as a result of spiraling criminal violence since the military campaign against drug cartels was started in 2006 by the administration of former president Felipe Calderon.
A wave of political violence has recently afflicted Mexico in advance of the elections scheduled for June 2. The NGO Data Civica reports that since September of last year, over twenty-dozen politicians have been slain; one of them was a mayoral candidate who was shot and killed last month, right before her campaign kicked off.
