The Mexican city of Acapulco.
Latin America: Week in Review, Mexico

51 Dead In Mexico’s Drug Violence; 15 Beheaded in Acapulco

January 10, 2011 By Staff

The Mexican city of Acapulco.

Today in Latin America

Top StoryDrug-related violence in Mexico took the lives of 51 people over the weekend, including 15 decapitations in the resort  town of Acapulco.

The murders, which also included mutilations, drive-by shootings and summary executions, occurred in southeastern Guerrero and northern Chihuahua states, as well as in Mexico City.

The 15 decapitated bodies were found on a walkway to an Acapulco beach with notes claiming the men had intruded on a drug cartel’s turf. The dead were between the ages of 15 and 25.

It was the largest single group of decapitation victims ever found in Mexico.

While it is unclear which cartel committed the beheadings, handwritten posters at the crime scene were signed “El Chapo Guzmán,” which refers to Mexico’s most wanted man and leader of the Sinaloa crime syndicate.

The posters , which allegedly are meant to warn rival cartels against extorting “quotas” from local politicians and businesses and are being viewed as an attempt to separate the Sinaloa cartel as less predatory than its rivals.

This weekend’s beheadings are the latest problems stemming from a turf war for drug shipment routes by at least three cartels; La Familia, Los Zetas, and the Sinaloa Cartel.

Despite the violence in Acapulco, tourism to “Pearl of the Pacific” has not suffered as much as was expected.

Just Published at the Latin America News Dispatch

Headlines from the Western Hemisphere

North America

Caribbean

  • Alleged terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, considered a hero and a freedom fighter by some within the Cuban-American community, will go on trial in El Paso Monday under accusations of lying to immigration authorities about his role in a series of bombings in Havana.
  • Human rights groups have denounced the deportation of undocumented Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
  • Puerto Rican studies scholar Frank Bonilla died at 85 on Dec. 28. See the New York Times profile here.

Central America

Andes

  • Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has accused the Organization of American States of interfering in Venezuela.
  • Rail operations have restarted after 50 train cars carrying coal from Glencore’s Prodeco unit in Colombia derailed earlier this week, a private company in charge of the railway concession said on Saturday.
  • A Spanish tourist hospitalized in the Colombian city of Barranquilla with swine flu symptoms died after it was confirmed that he had contracted the disease, health officials said.
  • The flooding, mudslides and highway blockages due to intense rains spread Sunday to the Peruvian regions of Ancash, Cuzco, Huanuco and Pasco with thousands of people reported to be affected, officials said.
  • The Bolivian public transport drivers’ unions decided to raise the fares on public transportation between 22 and 24 percent despite the fact that President Evo Morales’s administration cancelled the recent hike in the cost of liquid fuels.

Southern Cone

Image: Uberdadofthree @ Flickr.

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3 Comments

[…] you say Decapitations!! “Drug-related violence in Mexico took the lives of 51 people over the weekend, including 15 […]

Que tal. Muy buen posting. A pesar de la situacion de hoy en dia de nuestro pais, la renovacion del Area de Bienes Raices en Mexico esta por llegar. Articulos como los que publica Usted que presentan tan puntualmente un tema asi, ayudan bastante al sector de las Inmobiliarias y Bienes Raices.

Acapulco es todavia una joya entre los destinos turisticos de Mexico…rogamos por que pronto vuelva el glamour de decadas pasadas cuando el turismo nacional e internacional le visitaban.

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