Pubdate: Tue, 9 Jun 2009
Source: New York Times (NY)
Page: A12
Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Marc Lacey
Note: Antonio Betancourt contributed reporting from Mexico City.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Acapulco

ACAPULCO, LONG DOTTED WITH TOURISTS, IS NOW HOME TO DRUG WAR

MEXICO CITY -- Cliff divers, all-night discos, towering hotels on the
sand -- that is one side of Acapulco. But a four-hour gun battle over
the weekend between soldiers and suspected drug traffickers made clear
that the popular beach resort has a dark side and that no part of
Mexico may be completely immune from the continuing drug war.

The seaside shootout left 13 of the suspected drug traffickers, two of
the soldiers and two bystanders -- a father and son -- dead, the
authorities said on Monday. The scene was warlike, with the armed men
who were believed to have belonged to the Beltran Leyva cartel lobbing
dozens of grenades at the advancing soldiers and exchanging thousands
of rounds with them.

With local residents and budget-minded tourists huddling on the ground
for cover and shielding their ears from the explosions with their
hands, the scene "was like something out of 'Rambo,' " a witness told
the newspaper Reforma.

Beginning about 8 p.m. Saturday and stretching past midnight, the
street battle shut down the old hotel zone, where celebrities such as
John Wayne and Elizabeth Taylor used to vacation decades ago, before
the area lost its grandeur and newer hotels went up miles farther
south on Acapulco Bay.

After the shooting stopped, soldiers recovered a huge cache of
weaponry -- 49 guns, two rocket launchers, 13 grenades and 3,525
bullets of various calibers, the army said. Handcuffed and shirtless
inside the drug hide-out were four men who said they were Guerrero
State police officers who had been kidnapped. The army said it was
investigating the claim.

On Monday, gunmen shot and killed two officers near a police station
in Acapulco, shortly before other attackers wounded two more officers
at another post nearby, according to local news reports. The outbreak
of violence was a nightmare for tourism officials struggling to
attract visitors scared off by Mexico's often-bloody drug war as well
as its recent bout with swine flu. Their pitch has long been that
Mexico's violence is centered at the border and in other dicey areas
hundreds of miles from where most tourists go.

That was not the case over the weekend. Acapulco's famous cliff divers
are about a mile from the scene of the shootout, and some small budget
hotels as well as Acapulco's bullfighting arena are even closer.

"I've never been so close to something like this," Vincent O'Hara, 53,
a Canadian tourist who visits Acapulco regularly, told local
reporters. He and his wife were packing their bags and cutting their
vacation short.

Neighbors living near the hilltop house that the traffickers used as a
hide-out told local reporters that they had noticed suspicious
activity in the area for months but feared notifying the authorities.
Still, the army said it was an anonymous tip that led them to the house.

Three different drug organizations are struggling for control in the
state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located. The army said Monday
that one of the men killed in the shootout was believed to have been a
leader of the Beltran Leyva cartel, which is considered one of
Mexico's most dangerous drug groups. Also operating in the area are
Los Zetas, a group of former Mexican soldiers, and La Familia, which
sometimes portrays itself as a defender of rural families but is known
for its ruthless acts, the authorities said.

"It's incredible to come here seeking tranquillity, some rest, and
then face something like this," said Amando Zermeno, 45, a Mexican who
was vacationing with his wife and two daughters.

"It was like we were at war," said a housewife who described the floor
of her house shaking from the explosions as she prayed to the Virgin
of Guadalupe. Identifying herself only by her first name, Gloria, she
told local reporters that she lived about 150 feet from the house that
was under siege, on a street called Oasis.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake