Nowadays, a visit to the gorgeous beaches of Acapulco can include a washed-up body attached to a cement block. This is not a movie. It’s real life.
Shocked tourists and local beach-goers took phone footage of dead bodies of three men who were butchered and apparently tortured, and were washed up on a popular Mexican beach.
Tourists who had gone to enjoy a beach day at one of the most famous beach resorts in Acapulco, Playa Condesa, got a frightening reminder of the violence from brutal Mexican drug cartels in the Mexican state.
The two bodies were discovered on Saturday afternoon and had clear signs that they had been tortured before they were eventually killed and dumped.
Images show one of the bodies sprawled on the sun-soaked beach with its face up as tourists standing nearby stare at the corpse while others continue their day in the water and sun as if nothing strange had happened.
The other victim was found on the Condesa beach with its hand and foot attached to a cement block, in classic mafia or drug cartel style.
Tourists alerted police and the bodies were removed, but authorities decided not to shut the beach down.
The first two bodies were discovered on Condesa beach on Saturday, and a third body washed up a day later, on Sunday, at a nearby beach. Navy agents discovered it a couple of miles from Icacos beach, close to a military base.
The third victim was a male, shot multiple times in the back of his neck.
Acapulco is one of the oldest beach cities in Mexico, and it was once a thriving tourist destination. Between the 1940s and 1960s, it was a vacation spot for many celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot, who frequently visited the city and stayed in its fashionable hotels.
The city was the set of a Hollywood film by Elvis Presley titled “Fun in Acapulco,” which was released in 1963.
These days, Acapulco’s glamorous reputation is a thing of the past as it has become a stage for drug cartel violence, making it less of a tourist attraction. In 2019, Acapulco was considered one of deadliest cities in the world, coming in at number seven.
In 2016, Acapulco recorded 918 murders, making it the city with the highest homicide rate in the world that year.
Last year, the US issued a travel advisory against the Mexican state of Guerrero, warning American citizens that the state had huge levels of crime and violence. Acapulco is located in Guerrero state.
The ‘Do Not Travel’ advisory by the State Department stated that armed groups, which were not part of the government, continued to operate in most of the state, often putting up roadblocks, and have become violent towards travelers. It specifically warned Americans not to travel to Acapulco, among other areas in Mexico.
Between January and April 2022, the city recorded 120 murders.
Murders and violence in the city have become so common that residents and visitors have become accustomed to going on with their day, practically ignoring murdered corpses.
On the same day the third body was found, there was a shootout in a hotel car park near the port. Police discovered more than 20 casings near the Calinda Beach Resort.
Because of the high homicide rates in the city, fewer international tourists visit Acapulco today.