Military in Acapulco

in travel •  7 years ago 

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The military is everywhere here... I have never seen anything like this, its a huge show of force. Walking on the sidewalks, driving, helicopters, even a war tank in the bay!!!

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The military & police here in town are also amazingly friendly and sort of just casually hanging around. Most of the time you can tell they're just daydreaming.

A truck full of Policia with M4s definitely gives off less of an aggressive vibe than one cop with a Glock in the US.

Agreed!!! <3

Thank you for this link. It is most helpful in explaining the situation and why these troops are there now. Sad the brutality and drug wars still exist.

Are you there for Anarchapulco?

Can anyone explain why they are there and who they represent? Seems a huge show of force like this would be a deterrent for tourism. Must give an eerie feeling just being there.

It's meant to give gringos the illusion of safety and I've actually read comments from (American) tourists who say they do feel safer!
I feel bad for the poor soldiers wearing heavy uniforms in the Acapulco heat, sometimes also carrying a ton of equipment, basically playing human scarecrows.

Thank you for explaining this @lensessions I had no idea it was that bad in a big city such as Acapulco. Although I personally have never visited I do have friends that go down there every few years or so. I would imagine the soldiers are very uncomfortable. @lasmart613 has posted a link for an update as well that explains it well too. Had no idea there was so much crime there. :(

Tourism is important to Acapulco. Only the brave, stupid or desperate target tourists. When you read about incidents "in Acapulco" look up where they are on a map. Miles away, where no tourist would ever go.
People who live there have way more credibility than newspapers.

Great pictures! Please keep us posted on all the new developments. I've actually been watching documentaries about that entire region. The cartel violence has been going on for some time now. Some towns in Guerrero have even created their own homegrown voluntary defense force to fill the lack of security from overwhelmed municipal police. Most of them armed with machetes , handguns and bolt action hunting rifles. Very fitting for a state called Guerrero (Warrior). The tourist destinations are extremely protected by the police and military so the probability of violence in your area of town is much much less than the outskirts of town and neighboring towns.