Four Slain at Mexican Beach Resort as Wave of Violence Soars

MEXICO CITY – Two people were gunned down at a nightclub in Acapulco and the mutilated bodies of two men were found on the city’s outskirts as the wave of violence continued in this beach resort in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero.

A man and a woman were killed during the attack at Acapulco’s Majesty night spot this Thursday, just a short distance from the heavily policed Avenida Costera thoroughfare, local media said.

The victims were a waiter and a dancer, whose names have not been revealed.

Meanwhile two men and two women, between workers at the club and customers, were wounded in the nightclub shooting and were taken in critical condition to various hospitals in the area.

According to a Federal Police report, the assailants were two young men who entered the establishment bearing arms and opened fire indiscriminately on the crowd, then left without being caught.

The street where the club is located and which has about 10 night spots, bars and restaurants, has been the scene of several attacks by gunmen in recent months.

Then as dawn approached Friday morning, the bodies of two men were found on the outskirts of the city, one of them decapitated and the other with his arms cut off and left a short distance away.

The head of the first victim was found some 3 kilometers (2 miles) away, along with a threatening message, the press reported.

So far this year in Acapulco, 221 people have been murdered, presumably the work of organized crime, according to an article in the daily El Sur.

Though Acapulco is one of the busiest Mexican resorts during Holy Week, the crowds of tourists have not been sufficient to halt the scourge of violence in this Pacific Coast municipality, which is in stark contrast to the image publicized by the authorities.

According to the Guerrero Tourism Secretariat, the hotel occupancy rate this Friday reached some 90 percent in Acapulco, where the homicide rate stands at 104 for every 100,000 inhabitants.

Acapulco has become, according to a recent study by the NGO Citizen’s Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, the third most violent city in the world.

Federal Police Commissioner Enrique Galindo said this Friday that during the Holy Week vacations, the tourist destinations in the country are guarded by more than 8,000 officers.

The commissioner said the close watch being kept by Federal Police on Acapulco has been boosted by an additional 1,400 men in uniform.

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U.S. Denies “Specific, Credible” Threat of Brussels-Like Attacks

WASHINGTON – Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Tuesday that there is – at present – no evidence of “specific, credible” terrorist threats similar to the recent terrorist attacks in Belgium which left at least 34 people dead and more than 200 wounded.

“At present, we have no specific, credible intelligence of any plot to conduct similar attacks here in the United States,” the U.S. security chief said in a communique.

“That said, we remain very focused on the threat posed by lone terrorist actors who may lack direct connection to a foreign terrorist organization; we are concerned that such radicalized individuals or small groups could carry out an attack in the Homeland with little warning,” he added.

Johnson said that Washington remains committed to identifying and disrupting the plans of foreign terrorists who could travel to or from the United States.

The DHS chief said that his department, along with other law enforcement and intelligence authorities, is undertaking a series of actions to “monitor events in Brussels, work with the authorities there” and continue to increase U.S. security.

Johnson said that the United States has increased the exchange of information with Belgian and French authorities since the attacks last November in Paris, and it has procedures to “identify and prevent” suspicious individuals from traveling to the United States from Belgium.

In addition, among other things the Transportation Safety Administration has strengthened security at airports in the largest U.S. cities as a precaution.

As President Barack Obama did earlier on Tuesday, Johnson expressed his solidarity with the Belgian people and condemned the terrorist attacks.

The secretary also offered U.S. support to Belgian authorities to do everything possible to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks, for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

Ecuadorian Navy Seizes 1.9 Tons of Drugs near Galapagos

QUITO – The Ecuadorian navy seized 1.9 tons of drugs in an operation conducted over the past few days near the Galapagos Islands, but no suspects were arrested, prosecutors said.

The navy conducted the anti-drug operation on Thursday and Friday about 200 nautical miles from San Cristobal, in the Galapagos, the Attorney General’s Office said in a Twitter post.

The AG’s office, however, did not provide details on the types of drugs seized.

The drugs handed over to the AG’s office were found floating in the sea in sealed bales, prosecutors said.

“The bales had buoys with a satellite tracking system and the drugs, presumably, were bound for Central America,” the AG’s office said.

AG’s office personnel and drug enforcement agents put the drugs in safekeeping.

The Galapagos Islands are located about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) west of the coast of continental Ecuador and were declared a World Natural Heritage Site in 1978.

Some 95 percent of the territory’s 8,000 sq. kilometers (a little over 3,000 sq. miles) constitutes a protected area that is home to more than 50 species of animals and birds found nowhere else on the planet.

The islands were made famous by 19th-century British naturalist Charles Darwin, whose observations of life on the islands contributed greatly to his theory of the evolution of species.

Mexican Mother Under Investigation in Killings of Daughters Aged 3-7

MEXICO CITY – A woman has been taken into custody as a suspect in the deaths of her three young daughters, who were found murdered at their home in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, state prosecutors said.

The bodies of the girls, ages three, five and seven, were found Monday afternoon in the city of Morelia’s La Colina neighborhood and taken to a local coroner’s office for autopsies, the state Attorney General’s Office said.

The mother, identified as Martha Teresita Ch., has been detained for questioning based on the results of the initial investigation, the state AG’s office said, vowing to the solve the case and ensure that justice is served.

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