What is causing this?

Hmm.

It is nothing new in Guerrero and adjacent states
Going to Bucerias for November instead
Probably not much different but it seemed more in control when we there in July

This is happening all over Mexico, not just isolated in Zihua.
Keep to the tourist areas, and behave as usual, should not be an issue.

What's been going on down there is pretty sickening and I'd really like to know why the local authorities don't seem to be capable of doing something to fix the problem, but I just booked our flights for 3 weeks in the sun.

Is there a way to have these articles translated to English?

Were these incidents in broad daylight and where abouts in Zihua?

Boring read... move on

http://www.diariodezihuatanejo.mx/2016/08/asesinan-agente-de-transito.html

http://www.diariodezihuatanejo.mx/2016/08/un-muerto-y-un-herido-en-ataque-armado.html

This just does not seem like the occasional incident. I am surprised there is not more outrage and action by the authorities.

Why would the "local authorities" be outraged? With few exceptions, they're only interested in how much public money they can transfer to their personal fortunes, then moving on to higher positions of so-called public service where bigger budgets allow bigger fortunes to be made. They're not interested in changing the status quo or risking their lives and the lives of their loved ones pissing off the dangerous folks who make billions supplying the USA's consumers with stupidly banned substances.

I'm surprised anyone here seems to think we have a real police force or that laws are actually enforced. The only law local authorities are capable of enforcing here is against foreigners who want to take their pets to the beach with them. Other than that, Zihuatanejo and all of Guerrero is and has always been a lawless land with nothing remotely resembling a police force such as our northern friends are accustomed to. I've never known the folks who are called policía here to actually be any such thing. And now that the Mando Único has transferred the power over the municipal police away from the mayors, we are seeing more mayors getting murdered than ever before. All by-products of the decades-long failed policy you know as the war on drugs.

Thanks to repetitive TRULY TERRIBLE policies regarding stupidly banned popular recreational substances whose largest demand emanates from the USA, the people who are de facto in charge of things here in Guerrero can count on their fortunes continuing to grow.

DEA blows more smoke over marijuana

MADNESS!

After the Democrats rigging their primary election and the GOP nominating a con man for theirs, this is one of the most disappointing developments to come out of the USA for a long time. It only underscores the fact that special interests such as Big Pharma and Big Alcohol have more influence on public policy than We The People. #PobrePueblo #DemocracyMatters #ItsInOurHands

Only Canada's government appears to offer a beacon of hope and sanity in what is otherwise a sea of madness.