Acapulco de Juárez was made famous in the 1950s and the 1960s as the jet set descended upon it for a luxurious beach holiday. Elvis could be seen singing there whilst in the backdrop the famous divers would jump off the cliffs.
Fast forward to the 21st century and Acapulco has become the scene for a rival drug war as the cartels fight each other for control over the Guerrero coastal route that brings drugs from South to North America.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Acapulco is one of Mexicos most dangerous cities and is now their murder capital. Mexico is huge and does not have rampant crime in every city. Cancun is safe, as is Puerto Vallarta. Cancun is still a mecca for spring break.</p>— Chris Rhino #MGWV (@CBRhino1) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBRhino1/status/947297264837443584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The province of Guerrero, and its famous resort city of Acapulco have unfortunately become the epicenter of a bloody cartel war as rival criminal organizations seek to take over both the lucrative shipping ports that lead to any American coastal town, the drug production areas in all the glamorous houses still present and the distribution of said drugs to visitors in those tourist hotspots.
At a certain point this year, the violence in Guerrero became so bad that the city’s morgue officials went on strike as a great number of unclaimed corpses were overfilling their buildings.
Currently, the region is dominated by Jalisco Nueva Generacíon, which is now considered the country's most powerful cartel.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dear John, I agree. Yet as far back as the 1960's and all of 1970's MEXICAN Murders, Drugs available openly, hasn't kept TRAVEL AGENCY's from sending fools to ACAPULCO as so-called vacations U.S. Carriers aircraft. ALL participate due to GREED <a href="https://t.co/p6FAsKPrsI">https://t.co/p6FAsKPrsI</a></p>— JP SULLIVAN (@TrailseekerJPS) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrailseekerJPS/status/947259379916587008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
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It has gotten to such a point that according to homicide statistics, Acapulco is now the world's second most dangerous city. The once posh resort town is transformed into a narrow beach strip frequented mostly by Mexican tourists and semi-abandoned neighborhoods where cops don’t dare to thread, are ruled by gangs and violence. With this in mind, many on social media are left to wonder why US tour operators still allow tourists to go there.
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