U.S. warns travelers to avoid Acapulco

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Embassy in Mexico issued a security message Friday warning U.S. citizens to avoid the Pacific resort of Acapulco because of violence and protests.

In yet another blow to a coastal city once favored by U.S. movie stars and jet-setters in the 1950s and ‘60s, the embassy said its personnel “have been instructed to defer non-essential travel to Acapulco, by air or land,” and added that it “cautions U.S. citizens to follow the same guidelines.”

The alert noted that “protests and violent incidents continue in Guerrero state in response to the disappearance of 43 students there.”

Demonstrators have blocked highways to Acapulco, hijacked buses and blockaded the city’s airport to demand the government find the students who disappeared Sept. 26 in the nearby city of Iguala. Prosecutors say local police working for a drug gang probably turned the students over to gang members, who may have killed them and burned their bodies.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20141121-u.s.-warns-travelers-to-avoid-acapulco.ece

[delrem]

1. Well, U.S. movie stars and jet-setters have plenty of alternative destinations.

Yes, that was tres cynical. But then, what exactly is the market for cocaine and what does that have to do with it?

[Cha]

2. The protesters aren't messing around about the Gov finding the missing students TY, TexasT..:(

[No Vested Interest]

3. Such a pity so many places in Mexico have become unsafe

for American (and other) travelers.
A beautiful country with beautiful, sweet people, but I would feel vulnerable if I were to go to certain areas now.

[MindMover]

4. I feel vulnerable in many areas in America ...more than a pity...nt

[No Vested Interest]

6. That is true. But at least I would be able to communicate

with others if need be. The language barrier is just one more brick in the barrier, if one is not multilingual, as I am not.

[RKP5637]

10. Same here! n/t

[Mojorabbit]

5. It is a beautiful place

I visited there in the early 80s and even then if you walked a few blocks from the tourist area there was a lot of poverty. It was like night and day.

[No Vested Interest]

7. I was last there in the late 90's and my main memory is of

the cliff-divers.

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. Its luster has faded over the decades. Still quite popular with Mexicans, though.

I would pass through it going to smaller places on the coast, either going north to Zihuatanejo or south to Zipolite.

I did experience an earthquake there once. Then got on a bus heading south; had to stop at Pinotepa Nacional because a bridge had fallen down.

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. That's a bit overdone. It'd be like not going to St. Louis because of the Ferguson situation.

Acapulco's a big city.

[Iamthetruth]

11. I stopped going to Mexico three years ago

The wife and I took a week every year and stayed at different Mexican resorts. On our last trip there our Taxi was pulled over and the cop shook down the driver mainly because we were in the back. I felt it was a scam with both the driver and cop. I'll never go back, too risky for an American.

[riversedge]

12. Yes, it is dangerous but now --it is ordinary people who have had ENOUGH. Seems

like the killed students have awoken the masses (or at least many of them). It is not just the drug lords they are against. It is the people demanding the government stop the violence. IT is a change IMHO

[FLPanhandle]

13. I wouldn't go to Acapulco anyway.

It's not the same place it was in the 50's and 60's.

Now it's open sewage running into the bay, tacky restaurants and attractions, dirty beach, begging people all around, crowded, and polluted.

The well to do abandoned that place decades ago and it's gone downhill badly.