[Vision2020] Bullets, bloodshed & borders

[Ellen Roskovich]

I just returned from a week long trip to Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, Mexico where the "war" on drugs is escalating with what appear to be random bloody attacks in the streets, even at mid day.  Most of the tourists I met were either Canadian or U.S. and not used to seeing large number of hooded, armed militia patroling the streets. To be honest, not one of us was sure if they were the "good guys" or the ones to run from.

 

I was in Zihuatanejo last Wednesday, the day of the granade attack, or "massacre" as the local headlines screamed the next day.  I missed it (thank heavens!) mostly because I felt so uneasy and left the market earlier than I might have.  The armed patrols look like something you would see from a war zone on CNN.  Heck, I'm from Moscow, Idaho where you might see the police chief zipping around on a Segway! And you don't have that uneasy feeling that you should look away to avoid making eye contact.

 

And, through it all, the people are busy with their daily lives. . . going to work, school kids in uniforms carrying books. . . life goes on.

 

But. . . This "war" is spilling over across the border, and one of the worries I heard over and over from U.S. tourists was. . . . "how long will it be before we send our troops in?"  

 

Very scary thought, indeed!

 

Ellen A. Roskovich

 

 

 

 


 







Another policeman killed in Pacific coast's Zihuatanejo
EFE/WIRE REPORTS

A municipal police officer in the Pacific coast resort of Zihuatanejo was fatally shot Monday by assailants, who left a message warning that more police officers will die, authorities said.

JosAc Angel Tapia Romero was killed outside his home in Petatlán as he was leaving for work, the Guerrero state Public Security Secretariat said in a statement.

The scene was littered with shell casings from AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles, weapons favored by Mexico's powerful drug cartels.

Alongside Tapia's body was a message accusing police of collaborating with one or more of the rival criminal organizations operating in the region. The authors of the note also vowed to kill "all the police" in the area, especially the commanders.

Killings of law-enforcement personnel and public officials have become increasingly common throughout Mexico amid the intensifying drug war.

Four members of the Zihuatanejo municipal police died last week when their pickup truck burst into flames after an attack by grenade-hurling assailants. Police in the normally tranquil resort city also staged a protest last week, demanding better benefits if they are to be expected to fight organized crime.

BEACHES ON GUARD

Although most of the drug-related violence in the nation has taken place in border cities like Juárez and Tijuana, not to mention Culiacán, Sinaloa, several recent killings in coastal resort towns have shaken up the status quo.

A former general was killed in Cancún recently, and the police chief is now under investigation with regard to that homicide.

The latest spike in violence in Zihuatanejo comes on the heels of a U.S. State Department travel alert for Mexico.

Neither Zihuatanejo nor Cancún were mentioned as places to avoid, but local officials know how important their image as islands of tranquility during these times is.

The U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also took the unusual step of urging college students to avoid parts of northern Mexico during spring break. The bureau's Los Angeles field division said Monday that it discourages travel to Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, noting that both cities have witnessed significant drug-fueled violence. 

HOME | SECTION
 
 
 




Windows Live™ Contacts: Organize your contact list. Check it out.
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™ Groups: Create an online spot for your favorite groups to meet.
http://windowslive.com/online/groups?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_groups_032009
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20090303/e6fc0c99/attachment.html