Urban violence, rural violence: as in many states of Mexico, violence is daily in Guerrero (south), fueled by the proximity between local authorities and armed mafias, an immense challenge for President Claudia Sheinbaum who will be inaugurated on Tuesday.
In mid-September in Acapulco, the tourist capital on the Pacific, a shooting left two people injured in a seafront bar. At the end of August, a human head was abandoned in the same place.
Reached by messaging, a bar manager cuts short the questions. Local observers’ hypothesis: he refuses to pay his “rent” to one of the two local gangs.
Just off the seafront, the El Progreso neighborhood is one of the most affected by violence.
A man was killed in a shoe repair shop a few days ago, says a resident. “It’s everyday,” he sighs, before joining his daughter.
“Six assassinations in Acapulco,” headlined the newspaper El Sur on September 10. “A total of 26 crimes for this month, presumed to be linked to organized crime,” added the local media, without naming the two local gangs which compete for the extortion and drugs market.
Right in the center of El Progreso, it’s a day of celebration at the municipal police headquarters. Under a blazing sun, the mayor, Abelina Lopez Rodriguez, gives new uniforms to the agents.
In his speech, not a word about violence. “Yesterday, we managed to pay half of the +aguinaldo+ (end of year bonus)”, she prefers to congratulate herself.
“Acapulco is a paradise,” she assures AFP.
“We must continue to work to generate better opportunities for our police officers and for society,” continues the professional lawyer. “Peace is built in hearts.”
Corruption comes from another level of government, those around him explain off-microphone.
“Of course” that municipal police can be infiltrated by gangs, responds to AFP the new head of public security, Eduardo Bailleres Mendoza.
The former soldier wants to subject agents to random doping tests “to prevent staff from also being victims of the use of toxic substances”. And therefore sensitive to the call of dealers.
A municipal police officer earns 14,000 pesos per month ($710), he explains.
– “Bombs” –
On the eve of the Independence Day holiday in mid-September, hoteliers are optimistic. The tourists will come, they assure.
Not far from Acapulco, in Coyuca de Benitez, a candidate was killed on the eve of the June 2 municipal elections.
Some 150 kilometers north of the seaside resort, the residents of Santa Rosa de Lima live under pressure from the local gang, the Familia Michoacana (the Michoacan family, named after the neighboring state).
The gang has been using drones against communities resisting extortion for several months.
“On April 21, they threw bombs, more than 20. Several hectares of forests were burned,” says Azucena Rosas Garcia, community leader of San Antonio Texas, in the Sierra Madre mountains.
She shows images that she claims to have recovered from the memory card of a drone that fell to the ground. Investigators didn’t come until months later, in August.
Suddenly, armed men drive by in a red pickup. Self-defense militias, explains Victor Espino Cortes, coordinator of local community commissioners, recounting having himself been arrested by the police in possession of a weapon.
“When it suits them, the law exists. When it doesn’t suit them, they don’t apply it,” says the local manager, avocado producer. “They don’t defend us, nor let us defend ourselves.”
Nearly 200,000 people were murdered in six years under the mandate of outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
“AMLO” focused on social policies against organized crime (“hugs, no shootings,” he summarized).
Coming from the same left-wing party as him, president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged to pursue the same policy, adding more coordination between the security forces and the prosecution.
Dozens of people have been killed since September 9 in northwestern Mexico where two rival gangs of the Sinaloa cartel are settling scores with guns in hand.
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