Violence Continues Against Public Servants

(Acapulco, El Sur 11 April) Last night, around 10:00, an armed gang attacked a transit policeman outside of the traffic police headquarters in Acapulco, killing him with 8 rounds from an AK-47. The incident carried all the earmarks of a drug-related execution. On Friday, President Calderón had announced that the Tianguis Turístico would not be removed from Acapulco, but on the condition that all local police forces be purged of corruption and connections with drug gangs. The threatened “clean up” effort might endanger the lives of some members of the various forces.

Two hours earlier, the chief of staff of the city government, Rogelio Lozano Herrea, was leaving his office in the Avenida Constituyentes when he offered a ride to a member of his staff, Armando Islas Barrientos. He then saw masked gunmen attack his staff member, wounding him. Lozano Herrera jumped in his car, drove past the wounded man, whom he put in his trunk, and then raced towards a nearby fire station along back streets, to avoid the criminals. The public employee is in critical condition in the hospital with two bullet wounds.