Five people were killed and another injured in an armed attack in Acapulco, Mexico, on Thursday, a prosecutor said, just three days later. Ten other bodies were found in the seaside resort plagued by cartel violence.
The latest attack took place at a supermarket in a handicraft market near the main tourist street of the famous Pacific coastal city.
The prosecutor’s office in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, said in a statement that it was investigating the attack that killed four men and a woman and injured another person.
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Authorities said on Tuesday that 10 bodies had been found scattered across the once-glamorous seaside resort, which has been overrun by violence linked to organized crime.
According to the local public security department, six of the bodies were left on an avenue near a market on Monday evening.
Media in the city reported that the bodies had been thrown from a car.
A shooting in the Emiliano Zapata neighborhood left three others dead, and another person was shot dead in the touristy part of the city.
Recent violence in Acapulco
Once a playground for the rich and famous, Acapulco has lost its luster in the past decade as foreign tourists have been spooked by bloodshed, making it one of the most violent cities in the world.
Last month it was the head of the Acapulco traffic police shot dead when attackers opened fire on him in a street relatively far away from the resort’s beaches.
In February, the strangled bodies of two men were found on Acapulco’s popular Condesa Beach. Prosecutors said the men’s bodies showed signs of “torture by ligature” with “signs of torture around the neck.”
Around the same time, at least three people were shot dead on the beaches of Acapulco, one by gunmen who arrived – and escaped – on board a boat.
The city is also still struggling to recover from the crisis hit by Category 5 Hurricane Otis in October. In any case, Otis has left 52 deaths and destroyed or damaged most hotels.
The state of Guerrero is one of the hardest hit by drug trafficking in Mexico. Disputes between cartels led to 1,890 murders in the state in 2023. Guerrero is one of six states in Mexico that the U.S. State Department advises Americans to avoid entirely, citing crime and violence.
Rising criminal violence has led to more than 450,000 people being killed in the country since the government of then-President Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive against drug cartels in 2006.
Criminal gangs are not only involved in drug trafficking, but also in other illegal activities, including human smuggling, extortion and fuel theft.
Mexico was also recently plagued by one wave of political violence before the June 2 elections. According to the NGO Data Civica, more than 20 politicians have been murdered since September last year – including a mayoral hopeful. shot dead last month just as she started campaigning.
