To begin 2023, La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center published a bulletin entitled “Between Ephemeral Spectacle and Permanent Violence” in which it contrasted the “golden dream that thousands of national and foreign tourists enjoyed” on New Year’s in Acapulco (with more than 90 percent hotel occupancy) and the violence that is experienced in the periphery and other regions of the state of Guerrero.
It pointed out that “the great social contrasts that exist in Acapulco, instead of being reversed, have deepened. Corruption has no control. The municipal administrations are managed in a factious manner and in opacity. There are no high-impact investments that improve basic services (…) [in the face of] so many deficiencies that persist in a city devastated by violence, insecurity, corruption, unemployment, and the abandonment of peripheral areas.”
It added that “the absence of public institutions to meet the most basic needs is worrisome. This vacuum of authority has been covered by the bosses of organized crime, which exercises control of various lines of business and has under its control groups of transporters, street vendors and settlers who impose their law and work for their cause.” It further stated that “the same neighboring communities that are part of the Acapulco metropolitan area are already within this criminal network. The route that goes to the Costa Chica is a route controlled by “Los Rusos” who have established agreements with some UPOEG commanders, as was the case of “El Pino” and with elements of the ministerial police. The same happens with the freeway to Chilpancingo where several communities such as El 30 or Xaltianguis have become strategic places, to the extent that the entire route that reaches the state capital has become a permanent dispute over the transfer of drugs. This expansion has claimed lives and the most serious thing is that the municipal authorities prefer to close their eyes or ally with these groups to guarantee relative governance in the most important municipality in the state”.
It denounced that “this phenomenon is replicated with greater or lesser intensity in the six regions of the state.” Tlachinollan also expressed that “the state panorama is bleak not only because of the violence that is spreading, but also because of the growing power of criminal organizations that have settled in various regions and have shown they have control of the same town halls. They are part of the economic players who with their illegal activities have ventured into basic businesses to launder money and at the same time strengthen their presence in regions and communities where there are no government institutions or programs that meet the most basic needs. The returns of the criminal economy have multiplied and now they are preparing to control even basic food products. In several regions this phenomenon is already a reality that has caught the general population in its claws that has resigned itself to obeying the orders of the turf bosses, to ensure their survival. The scenario that the governor has is complex, the challenges are enormous and extremely explosive. The x-ray is already clear and the diagnoses of major risks are focused. It is a daunting task that requires the determined intervention of the federation, but it also has to rely on the population itself, on social organizations, on the movements of victims who constantly fight to find their loved ones and demand attention, because there is a gross neglect of their demands.”
For more information in Spanish:
Guerrero, entre el espectáculo efímero y la violencia permanente (Tlachinollan, 2 de enero de 2023)
Guerrero, entre el espectáculo efímero y la violencia permanente (El Sur, 2 de enero de 2023)
For more information from SIPAZ:
National: Oaxaca, Guerrero and Chiapas – Three Most Dangerous States in Mexico for Defense of Human Rights (December 12, 2022)
Guerrero: #25N Afro-Mexican and Indigenous Women Demand from Costa Chica Halt to Femicides (December 1, 2022)
Guerrero: Three CIPOG-EZ Members Murdered; “They Are Killing Us” They Warn Lopez Obrador (November 9, 2022)
Guerrero/National: Social and Human Rights Defenders under Threat from Army (October 21, 2022)
Guerrero: Al menos 20 personas fueron asesinadas por comandos armados en San Miguel Totolapan (October 6, 2022)
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