• EXTORTION WAVE In less than two days, armed men suspected of demanding extortion payments from public transport drivers set ablaze four vehicles in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco (pop. 673,000) part of a criminal wave that has hit at least 56 vehicles suffering the same fate this year.
• RECENT PROTEST On Monday, 500 people led by taxi and bus drivers marched through the streets of Acapulco demanding the Guerrero state government to take action against criminal gangs demanding extortion money from drivers and other businesses in the once glamorous destination.
• REGIONAL PROBLEM Extortion against bus and taxi drivers is a problem that affects countries across Latin America from Colombia through Central America; only in Guatemala, more than 500 bus drivers were killed between 2007 and 2011, according to Insight Crime, a crime analysis foundation.
• TRAVEL WARNING Currently, the US Department of State placed Acapulco and the entire state of Guerrero under a do not travel warning due to the presence of armed groups; Guerrero is one of five Mexican states where the US advises not to go along Colima, Michoacán, Tamaulipas and Sinaloa.
