Acapulco Violence Continues

Acapulco has seen a wave of executions in the past few weeks. There are rumors that The Hector Beltran Leyva cartel has formed an alliance with the other cartels including los Zetas to fight La Familia Michoacana and the remnants of La Barbie's organization (which has further splintered and are fighting amongst themselves).

This article is an attempt to show a time line of the recent violence. A lot has happened in the state of Guerrero recently. If I missed anything please bear with me.

- Smurf

11/2/10 - The body of a man is found dumped on the side of the Acapulco-Zihuatanejo federal highway. There are obvious signs of torture; he has been blindfolded, beaten and investigators comment that the rate of decomposition suggests he was left there quite a while ago. He was 50 years old at the time of his death which came at the end of a 9mm barrel. A tattoo of the Virgin Mary is visible across his chest as he lays facing up towards the open sky.





11/9/10 - The bodies of two municipal police officers were found after an anonymous call to emergency services. When investigators arrived to Lazaro Cardenas Blvd in colonia El Cayaco, they discovered that both victims had been decapitated. One man had been blindfolded. His body was arranged so that he was holding his head atop his lower abdomen. Nearby a plastic bag was found that contained two tongues and a narco message. An abandoned police cruiser was also located at the scene, family members soon arrived to identify and arrange burial plans.

The names of the officers were Francisco Garibaldi Valverde and Rodolfo Meza Figueroa.

The double homicide has been attributed to a group calling themselves Contras Independientes de Acapulco (CIDA), a faction of the group that was lead by Edgar Valdez Villarreal La Barbie, which now maintains an ongoing fued with the sicarios working for Carlos Montemayor (La Barbie's father-in-law) and who now controls a lot of the criminal structure the former capo controlled until his detention on August 30th of this year.

This was the content of the narco-message: "This happened to us because we killed innocent people on the orders of Carlos Monte Mayor, Tilde Toribo, El Erizo and all those other bastards. ATTE El Cida p.s. This is going to happen to all the municipal police who support Carlos Montemayor, EL Erizo and Los Calentanos ATTE - C.I.D.A.


11/10/10 - The occupants of two trucks fired automatic weapons at the offices of El Sur, at approximately 10:20 p.m. Wednesday evening, said Juan Carlos Moctezuma, editor of the newspaper.

El Sur is located 50 meters from Miguel Alemán street, near the center of town. Two other newspapers also have offices nearby.

The vehicles were the shots originated from had been parked outside for nearly 30 minutes before a reporter became suspicious and went to inquire what their business was. At that moment, the gunmen opened fire and sped away before the authorities could arrive.

The attack came while 8 people were still working on the Thursday edition. Windows were shot out, but no injuries or deaths were reported.

Municipal and State police officers began round-the-clock patrols in addition to the efforts to find the culprits. Moctezuma said he did not know what the cause of the aggression was, although recent editions of El Sur have featured several articles on the subject of narcotrafficking.

11/12/10 - After receiving anonymous threats to kill and kidnap the children at two local schoosl, a near panic ensued as frightened parents scrambled to pick-up their children, whose schools had been locked down by police. This later turned out to be a false alarm that included reports that a beloved teacher had been decapitated in a nearby colonia which turned out to be completely false. The next day a narco-banner is hung off a bridge. The message translates as such:

To all citizens of Acapulco, we ask that you stay calm. We do not want to kidnap your children from their schools, we do not want to bring heat to our own house, the people of Costa Chica, Acapulco, and Costa Grande, we are at the service of all citizens. This is the work of Carlos Montemayor, El CHino and EL TIlde. They did this to get the government on our backs and try to finish the job they can't seem to do themselves. It is a complete lie that La Familia Michoacana wants to hurt this community in any way; these people have a peace agreement with us. - ATTE C.I.D.A.

11/13/10 - Two men are executed around 6:00 a.m. near the Acapulco-Zihuatanejo freeway, neighbors report hearing gunshots. The first corpse was found with a message that read: Here is your garbage, thanks please send more. These are the infiltrators Atte: C.I.D.A




















11/14/10 - Two more bodies are found next to the site where 18 tourists from Michoacan were found buried next to two young men who had appeared on an interrogation video confessing to taking part in the murder of the group of men found in the grave.

Authorities believe this may be the other 2 missing tourists.




11/14/10 - a total of 7 people are executed this day. Five are found executed in the Las Gaviotas residential area, they were found bound and handcuffed, killed exectution style with a bullet to the head with 9mm and AK-47 rounds. Along with the bodies this message was found:

Here is your garbage Atte: C.I.D.A.

Hours later state police found two trucks that had been set on fire in colonia Emiliano Zapata. Inside they find the burned bodies of two unidentified men.


Sources: Milenio, Narcotriffico en Mexico, Narcored, El Universal.