The
image of this beach mecca has taken a new hit from Mexico's drug violence, with
27 people killed in less than a day, including 14 men whose bodies were found
with their heads chopped off at a shopping center.
Acapulco
has seen fierce turf wars between drug gangs, and the bloodshed is scaring some
vacationers away even though little of the violence happens in tourist areas.
The
decapitation slayings and most of the other killings that occurred in a stretch
of just a few hours from Friday night into Saturday also occurred in
non-tourism areas. But two police officers were shot to death on a major
bayside avenue in front of visitors and locals.
The
14 headless bodies, and a 15th intact corpse, were found by police on a street
outside a shopping center accompanied by written warnings from a drug cartel,
authorities said.
Handwritten
signs left with the bodies were signed by "El Chapo's People," a
reference to the Sinaloa cartel, which is headed by Joaquin "El
Chapo" Guzman, said Fernando Monreal Leyva, director of investigative
police for Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.
The
narco-messages indicated the Sinaloa cartel killed the 15 men for trying to
intrude on the gang's turf and extort residents.
Mexico's
drug cartels have increasingly taken to beheading their victims in a grisly
show of force, but Saturday's discovery was the largest single group of
decapitation victims found in recent years.
In
2008, a group of 12 decapitated bodies were piled outside the Yucatan state
capital of Merida. The same year, nine headless men were discovered in the
Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo.
Also
killed Saturday in Acapulco were the two police officers; six people who were
shot dead and stuffed in a taxi, their hands and feet bound; and four others
elsewhere in the city. Two police officers were wounded when armed men attacked
a police post in the city's Emiliano Zapata district.
"We
are coordinating with federal forces and local police to reinforce security in
Acapulco and investigating to try to establish the motive and perpetrators of
these incidents," Monreal said.
The
wave of violence in one of Mexico's biggest resorts was condemned by the
federal government.
"Reprehensible
acts of violence such as these underscore the need to fight with determination
against organized crime," a statement from the Interior Ministry said.
At
least 30,196 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe
Calderon launched an offensive against cartels in late 2006.
Also
Saturday, authorities said a small-town mayor was found dead in northern
Mexico.
Saul
Vara Rivera, mayor of the municipality of Zaragoza, was reported missing by
family members Wednesday, Coahuila state prosecutors said in a statement. His
bullet-ridden body was discovered Friday in neighboring Nuevo Leon state.
There
were no immediate arrests.
At
least a dozen mayors were killed nationwide last year in acts of intimidation
attributed to drug gangs.