Drug Violence Continues in Poorer Neighborhoods

(Acapulco, NA 3 November) At dawn yesterday, three youths were shot in Renacimiento, a working class suburb of Acapulco, in what appeared to have been a drug deal gone bad. An armed group opened fire on them with 9mm and 7.62 mm automatic weapons. A number of packages of cocaine were also found at the site. The ages of the three males victims ranged from around 18 years to 30. A fourth victim, 17 years of age, was found murdered in a second incident, not far away from the first one. In the “Monteczuma” neighborhood, near “Vacacional,” residents heard the noise of a shootout in the early dawn hours. At the site, police found 60 shell casings, blood on a nearby wall and sidewalk, and a vehicle showing many bullet holes. No victims were found.

In “Colosio,” a working-class neighborhood near Acapulco Diamante, around 5:00 am yesterday, one bullet-sprayed SUV and two other burned-out vehicles were found along the development’s main street, after residents had called police with reports of heavy gunfire. The vehicle with bullet holes had been reported stolen on October 30. Bloodstains were detected inside. Just a few yards away, two burned-out vehicles were found, together with several shell casings from a 7.62mm automatic rifle. Yesterday afternoon, in an overgrown area, the bodies of two adult males were found, killed in execution style, together with a message from a narco gang.

In a related incident, police received an anonymous tip on the emergency telephone number 066, indicating that the bodies of the missing “Michoacán 20” could be found in a hidden grave near the community of Tres Palos, north and east of the Coloso suburb. More than 150 marines and soldiers were dispatched to the location, but nothing was turned up.