Not that many years ago, Acapulco was a glamorous international vacation spot 151 Elvis made a beach movie there. Now it is just another violence-riddled war zone where the battling cartels shoot each other up at will, because the drug gangs are more powerful than the government. Naturally, the locals are concerned: "Acapulco fears being 'Narcapulco.'"
In Acapulco, assailants lobbed grenades at a police station and a prosecutors' office early Friday, causing building damage but no serious injuries. The perpetrators escaped without being identified.
Remember that a "failed state" is a government which cannot maintain even the basics of law and order. We can expect to see far more violence as Mexico turns into Colombia.
Another victim is the free press in border towns, where journalists get no protection from the police against cartel thugs. Last week, several drug gangsters entered the office of La Manana in Nuevo Laredo and shot down reporter Jaime Orozco Tey who was critically wounded ("Mexico needs to protect journalists").
On Tuesday, Ramon Cantu Deandar, the owner and general manager of La Manana, announced a "zero investigations" policy regarding the drug trade."They are forcing us to do that, to not inform about violent incidents so that the city's image and credibility are not stained," he told the Laredo Morning Times.
Can you recall a previous instance where a newspaper has openly thrown in the towel on honest reporting out of fear? Neither can I.
Instead, when more "sophisticated" editors (like those in the United States) want to hide, they claim they are exercising editorial judgement by not publishing disturbing items like the Danish cartoon images of Mohammed which could bring a nasty case of headchopping.
