Just saw this. Totally different story....
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/an-american-man-and-his-wife-were-killed-while-vacationing-in-mexico/ar-AAF1RpB?li=AAggNb9

Actually it's not. It's just a more complete story regarding their personal life, which isn't really germaine to the incident itself. The original story in Spanish in the local news plus these stories in English are basically the same info we've had all along. What's new is the revelation about his personal life. Doesn't change the basic facts. He was driving from Acapulco to Zihuatanejo in the wee hours of the morning, a bad decision to start with, he ran a roadblock, and their bodies were left in a neighborhood of Petatlán. All the basic facts remain the same. All this supposedly during a much-touted "Operativo Jaguar" to beef up security for the tourist season. One would think that included the main highways since (a) we only have one coastal highway, and (2) that's how the great majority of our tourists are expected to travel in our state.

www.zihuatanejo.net/tablero/messages/132043.html

All this being said: the car jackings on hiway 200 ect. is the trip from the airport to Troncones safe: day or night?

No, as far as I know they were folks traveling here from Michoacán from the other direction. But that was some time back and. There's usually enough vigilancia on the highway between the airport and Troncones to deter carjackers, but then sometimes they even happen in broad daylight on our busiest streets, so never say never. New SUVs are the favorite vehicle to steal in our region. Right now the region is full of police, military and Guardia Nacional, and I haven't seen any chatter about tourists being affected by carjackings.

But I never recommend driving on the highways outside of town at night here mostly because you can't see cattle on the road as well after dark. Never mind the drunks.

https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/world/americas/operation-fast-and-furious-fast-facts/index.html

Not even a drop in the bucket. But imagine the frothing hypocritical outrage were any other country to meddle in the internal affairs of the USA in a similar fashion. They’d be a smoking radioactive wasteland like The Chump just threatened Afghanistan with.

If you want, I'd be happy to translate it into Spanish for you.

I have a mildly tangential story and wonder if anyone has feedback.
About a month ago I took a calculated risk and took a night bus from Puerto Escondido to Acapulco.
It left around midnight and arrived about 9AM.
I immediately caught a bus to Zihuatanejo which was my final destination.
I had done some research and read a gringo report about the bus getting help up about 4 years ago, but no recent incidents.
Do you think I was particularly foolish in traveling at night?
Of course the ride was uneventful!

You're asking me? I guess whether one's decisions were foolish or not can only be answered in hindsight.

I have a mildly tangential story and wonder if anyone has feedback.
About a month ago I took a calculated risk and took a night bus from Puerto Escondido to Acapulco.
It left around midnight and arrived about 9AM.
I immediately caught a bus to Zihuatanejo which was my final destination.
I had done some research and read a gringo report about the bus getting help up about 4 years ago, but no recent incidents.
Do you think I was particularly foolish in traveling at night?

Lots of folks travel at night so they can conduct their business beginning early in the morning upon reaching their destinations. Those of us who have to go from Zihuatanejo to Chilpancingo or Acapulco for any reason often do this. In areas where there are problems reported the buses usually travel in convoys or with police escorts. Of course if the news media aren't reporting problems then it's impossible to know what's going on. But in general if an area is having problems the bus companies stop the service until the police take action and catch the culprits. I haven't heard of any bus holdups in our region for quite some time. Buses that make frequent stops to pick up passengers are at a higher risk. The direct non-stop buses are the ones we try to take whenever we travel and they are the ones I always recommend.

Something does not add up in the whole story, if the male driving(husband) was described by his sister in Mexico Daily News as a stickler for following the rules one would think a) he would not be driving thru Petalan or anywhere at 3:30 am in Guerrero and b) he would not run a road block.
Too bad there will not likely be a real investigation and the "community police" ill continue their trigger happy existence. A sad commentary on the State of Guerrero .

There could be a lot of innocent explanations for why the father did something he normally wouldn't do. I'm sure the son will shed more light on the matter to his family.

The only way the matter will not be investigated is if good people do nothing.

The policía comunitaria are normally not trigger happy by any means. They formed because they were tired of the violence and the inaction by the police and other authorities. The problem is some of their groups have been infiltrated, and others are simply taking advantage of the lack of governmental oversight. While I can't vouch for the group in Petatlán, I also have no reason to doubt their sincerity.

Driving in Mexico is safe. Obviously, you have to use your brain. Drive the toll roads, DON'T DRIVE AT NIGHT, follow the rules, including stopping at roadblocks. Be friendly, attempt to speak the language, smile and don't be stupid.

Many many RVers travel all over Mexico and Central America with very few issues. If they do have issues, most of them are self-induced. Yes, there will be the occasional, very occasional incident that occurs that they cannot/could not avoid. Just like in the US and Canada.

We live here full time now, and until 18 months ago spent 6 months a year traveling all over Mexico in an RV, during bad times in Chiapas and good times elsewhere. We did this for 33 years and will be doing it again. We could have had incidents, but the smile, the attempts at Spanish and following the rules kept us out of trouble.

Drive down, there is so much to see, and we have always felt more secure in Mexico than we ever did in the US.

I just re-read my post and don't see where I made an excuse of any kind for anyone.

Except for the title itself where the implication is perfectly clear.

How the US military's opium war in Afghanistan was lost

And I'm sure you recall Iran-Contra and the USA running drugs to buy arms to pay off the Iranians for waiting until AFTER Reagan was sworn in to deliver the U.S. hostages. I knew then the Republicans were no longer the same party my father had voted for most of his life. He did, too.

So again, you'll have to excuse me for my lack of confidence in U.S. explanations about anything related to what is going on here in Mexico.

Unfortunately, yes. There have been many car jackings on highway 200 just north of Troncones. - some in broad daylight.
Cars have been shot at. No one says anything because it might discourage tourists from coming.

This subject of the carjackings was brought up here earlier this year and I responded openly about it, but a resident of Troncones got angry and asked me to remove the comments, first saying they weren't true and later after being shown the proof claiming they were unaware. I refused to remove the comments and they later cancelled their use of my services. Perhaps there's a connection or perhaps it's just a coincidence. Nevertheless, that is what folks in the area are up against, and I would do the same again.

The local governments, on the other hand, being a principle source of revenue for many regional news media simply stop buying advertising in any media that continues publishing unflattering but truthful news. This sort of pressure is common in many tourist destinations, including Florida.

Unfortunately, yes. There have been many car jackings on highway 200 just north of Troncones. - some in broad daylight.
Cars have been shot at. No one says anything because it might discourage tourists from coming.

We had been debating whether we should drive down again, for the 7th or 8th time. All things considered, we chose to fly. Sounds like the prudent decision.

Just trying to keep things in perspective. Our highways continue being used by tens of millions of people a day without incident. This particular incident occurred in the middle of the night and because they didn't stop at a checkpoint.

Unfortunately, yes. There have been many car jackings on highway 200 just north of Troncones. - some in broad daylight.
Cars have been shot at. No one says anything because it might discourage tourists from coming.

We had been debating whether we should drive down again, for the 7th or 8th time. All things considered, we chose to fly. Sounds like the prudent decision.