MEXICO: Acapulco Violence Spreads; Hailing A Cab Can Bring Hail Of Bullets.

AP/ M.HERALD/

   Taxis in Acapulco are now caught-up in the narco turf wars.
   Recent attacks have left 12 taxi drivers or passengers dead.
   Cab drivers are often targeted for extortion or recruited as lookouts by the gangs.

MEXICO: Disco Deaths Stun Guadalajara: 6 Killed, 37 Wounded In Assault, Grenade Attack; Acapulco Under Seige And In Despair.

AP/ M.HERALD /

   Mexico's second largest city is reeling after gunmen invaded a crowded nightclub there around 4 a.m. Saturday, spraying customers and tossing a grenade into the crowd, killing six and wounding at least 37.
    Witnesses say gunmen arrived at the Butter Club,  in the popular bar and restaurant district, exiting from a Jeep Cherokee and 2 taxis, opened-up fire and ended the assault by tossing a grenade in the club's entrance.
   A Venezuelan and a Colombian were among the dead.

ALSO: From the WSJ, By  D. Luhnow, J.de Cordoba/
   Another recap on the growing fight among the narcos for Acapulco's port as a drug shipment hub. Last year, more than 400 people died there as the violence scares away visitors and discos sit half empty.
    Acapulco's acting mayor says the city tolerated drug capos for too long, welcoming their money. "We let this problem grow from small amounts of drugs sold in the discos to a big enough business today that people are killing each other over it."
   Some contend that the most powerful narco, the elusive Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán,  wants to control it.  And sadly many even want him to succeed and impose a narco version of the Pax Romana.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704709304576124302909277280.html

MEXICO: 2ND UPDATE: Canadian's Family Angry Over Acapulco Police Inaction In Death.

LINK CHANGE/ LAHT/  3 NOV / 
    The family of Canadian businessman Daniel Alain Dion, 51, found in the trunk of his burned rental car in Zumpango del Rio, 80 miles from Acapulco,  claims the police did NOTHING to help them locate him.
     Dion had been attending a trade conference at the Acapulco Convention Center.
     The family believes Dion was killed by people who knew him and that he died because he complained in a local newspaper of a lack of support from authorities to expand his business. His company Ecopurse sells purses made with recycled materials by Mexican prison inmates.

MEXICO: 2ND Update: 20 Tourists Kidnapped Near Acapulco Had NO Criminal Records.

LINK CHANGE/ AP / 06 Oct. /
    Police now say that the 20 Mexican nationals men kidnapped last week in Acapulco had no criminal records and may have been targeted by mistake.
    Police confirmed that 19 of the abducted men were mechanics from Morelia vacationing together in an annual ritual.
     There has been NO trace of them to date.

   "The tourists got off their bus to buy some things and armed men intercepted them, got everyone off the bus and then kidnapped them," a newspaper reported.

     A member of the group of visiting auto mechanics from neighboring Michoacan told police that he went into a store and his companions - aged 17 to 47 - were gone when he returned.
    Foreign tourists have been avoiding Acapulco in recent years because of growing violence there but it has remained attractive to Mexicans looking for inexpensive vacation. 
     This mass kidnapping may change that.

The Body Count Grows Near Acapulco In Mexico's Guerrero State.

LATIMES/
The mutilated bodies of nine people were found in Guerrero.
The bodies were beheaded, hacked to pieces and left in 18 black plastic bags in the bed of a pickup in the town of Tlapehuala. Three others were found dead near Acapulco. Notes left with the bodies indicated the murders were done by the "La Familia" drug gang.

Acapulco Shootout Leaves 18 Dead

Acapulco, once Mexico's most glamorous resort city, witnessed a shootout Saturday that left 16 gunmen and 2 soldiers dead.

Recently, Acapulco has been making a comeback as a tourist site, especially for Mexicans.

But, located in the troubled and violent narco state of Guerrero, it is often the site instead of violent clashes between the police, the army and drug dealers.

My own memories of Acapulco are very dated and colored by events.

About my only visit... in 1968... I recall polluted beaches...and being robbed by police while sleeping on the beach.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-shootout8-2009jun08,0,7718575.story