Mexico drug violence spreads to Acapulco

ACAPULCO, Mexico — Ana Galeana was arranging geraniums at her Acapulco flower stall when heavily armed men in a convoy of jeeps opened fire on a police checkpoint across the street.

When she and her 5-year-old daughter finally emerged from hiding behind a crate of roses, four gunmen were dead, several policemen were seriously injured and bullet holes scarred the church and storefronts along one of the main avenues into the resort town.

"When you think of Acapulco you imagine beaches and discos, not a war zone," said Galeana, 25, pointing at a gaping bullet hole in her wooden stall.

In the past, the granddaddy of Mexican tourist towns was hardly touched by the gangland carnage seen elsewhere in the country. But this year, the city of more than 720,000 has been shaken by 15 execution-style slayings, four grenade attacks on police stations and the Jan. 27 shootout.

Federal investigators link the violence to a turf war between drug gangs in northern Mexico for lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.

The bloodshed in Acapulco poses one more headache for President Vicente Fox, whose administration already has been rattled by drug-related violence on the U.S. border. Acapulco lies on a major drug route to the United States, and Mexicans worry for the nation's nearly $12 billion foreign tourism industry.

"The Mexican government has let the violence spiral out of control and now it's gone from the border to Acapulco," said the University of Miami's Bruce Bagley, an expert on drug violence. "This is very serious. We are talking about the potential loss of $1 billion-$2 billion."

The bloodshed does not appear to have deterred visitors yet. So far this year, Acapulco's hotel occupancy is up 9 percent from the same period last year, a trend that could break last year's record of nearly 6 million visitors, said Teresa de Jesus Rivas, Acapulco's tourism director.

The resort also has benefited from Hurricane Wilma, which walloped Mexico's Caribbean coast in October. Many vacationers, especially spring breakers, have switched from Cancun to Acapulco on the Pacific.

U.S. citizens, the majority of foreign visitors, have not been victims, although a State Department advisory warns travelers to Acapulco to "be vigilant in their personal safety."

Bernadette Feazell, 58, a native of Waco, Texas, who runs a bed-and-breakfast in Acapulco, said tourists have little to fear — as long as they watch out for the jeeps.