Killing of four police officers in Zihuatanejo

Rob,

Thanks for your reply. I am not a tourist. I moved to Mexico in May and I am in Zihuatanejo until at least March.

I am not here to just to sling back drinks for a week. I want to learn more about Mexican culture, society and especially about the cartels. I don't want to scare people off either so I do understand why you may be frustrated by my post. I honestly wanted to hear from locals about what they think about the killings so I posted here looking for some answers.

I don't need to know if Zihuatanejo is safe. I already live here and get it. I'm looking for a more insider discussion. I should have made that clear.

Stacey

Thanks, Stacey. Forgive me. Got a bad head cold and I thought you were just making small talk.

There's a narco war going on for local turf. The CNG vs the GG. Not sure which side the mayor's on, but he recently commented that he's not worried about his personal safety because "he has friends". Local rumor has it his "friends" are in the narco trade, so maybe that explains why he washes his hands regarding public security. But then again there is never any shortage of rumors.

Personally I find it much more interesting what General Cienfuegos, head of the Secretaría de Defensa Nacional (Sedena) commented yesterday. He said the military should be returned to their quarters because they didn't study to be chasing criminals in the streets, which is what the president, the governors and the mayors all have them doing. He criticized the Secretaría de Gobernación (Segob) for not doing their job, i.e. making sure the states and municipalities have adequate resources and develop correct policies to provide public security. To my recollection no military chief has ever made such a comment publicly, and from what I gather most Mexicans are praising him for saying so. He went on to suggest that criminality isn't resolved with bullets but with laws and policies. Almost sounds like he's suggesting we need the legalization of stupidly banned recreational substances.

Seguridad en calles, “responsabilidad de Segob, no de Sedena; violencia no se resuelve a balazos”: Cienfuegos

Prediction:
Zihua will be included in Travel Advisory , maybe even by Canada that does not easily hop on the advisory train.
Bless the families.

Why would a Website tourist business owner want to hide the fact of increasing violence in ZIH? Because it is a source of income, and when the tourists are gone, so is the business. Acapulco, Mazatlan, Manzanillo and other tourist destinations are no longer so. Why do you think the Cruise ship business is gone from most of Mexico? Fear my friends, fear! Tourists are here for the same reasons they are elsewhere in the world. Decent price, maybe some sun or snow, a safe environment, and a chance to visit and learn about other cultures. Why else would they come? It all goes to hell when people become scared and the website operator starts blaming their home country for his own countries lawlessness. When a tourist business starts blaming the ' so called Christians ' for ringing bells at their own church, things have gone too far. I could be wrong, but were you not thinking of moving to Ixtapa? This is my 13th year in a row visiting ZIH. Things have surely changed over the years, not for the good.

Nanu Nanu

As usual Mork you appear extremely confused. If I wanted to "hide" the news I wouldn't include a NEWS page on my website.

It is indeed regrettable you fail to make the connection between the FAILED policies of the U.S. and Mexican governments regarding how their failed policies empower organized criminals seeking a piece of the multi-billion dollar a year market to supply U.S. consumers with recreational substances stupidly banned in their country despite having a market of over 40 million consumers.

It is also regrettable you seem to expect from Mexico what the U.S. government itself learned it could not accomplish back in the 70's when it tried busting every "drug" dealer and user in the USA. Police departments simply ran out of resources and were overwhelmed. And the good citizens got tired real fast of seeing all the violence it generated on their evening news programs. Not good for U.S. politicians. Better to take the war to someplace else, so they took it to Colombia, then later handed the drug business to the Mexican cartels on a silver platter after the DEA and the CIA wore out their welcome playing their games there.

Mexico spends an average of over 220 billion dollars a year fighting the organized criminals known as narcos. Money we would much rather see spent on health, education and infrastructure. But both supply and demand in the USA is up with a trend away from cocaine and towards heroin, a main product of Guerrero responsible for the increasing violence, including the disappearance of the 43 teaching students 2 years ago, as the control of routes and production are fought over. Guerrero's governor is trying to legalize poppy cultivation to at least remove that variable from the equation. But yeah, it's our fault. Right.

Yes, fear is ruining the tourism industry even though tourists are the least affected of all. Because perception is more important than reality to folks who can't be bothered with facts or history. Thank you for underscoring that point. I knew someone would. In most places tourists don't really care about anything other than superficial images. However thanks in no small part to this Message Board there are thousands of tourists who know more about Zihuatanejo than the average tourist knows about other places they visit. And one of those things they know is that, unlike the USA which is an incredibly violent country where any psychocretin can obtain all the firearms they can afford, the violence here isn't mostly against random victims but targeted at specific groups, mostly opposing narco gangs and the police and military forces. Many of my readers know that tourists to Zihuatanejo are generally much safer here than they are in Miami Beach or Waikiki.

The U.S. State Department just included Cabo San Lucas on their travel advisories. They had three separate shootings yesterday downtown. Unheard of in Cabo. I live in Cabo and it's getting bad.

Really sorry to hear this. Our daughter and grandson are getting ready to move there.

How much more violence and corruption do we need to suffer before lawmakers do the only right thing and end the prohibition of popular recreational substances? Their hypocrisy is literally killing us!

When you say the shootings in Cabo were down town did you mean the Marina? We were planning to return to Cabo or Huatulco this year.
We stayed at the Azul Grand Ixtapa in February and loved it. Having said that I think I will have to take a pass on Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo until things are more under control.

That is exactly what I have observed as well from my many years traveling to Zihua-Ixtapa for work and pleasure..