Shootout kills 16 in Mexico's Acapulco resort Jun. 7, 2009 07:07 AM ACAPULCO, Mexico - A military official says 15 gunmen and a soldier were killed in a two-hour shootout in the heart of Acapulco's hotel zone. The army colonel who led the battle against the gunmen says the shootout erupted when the military received a tip about the presence of armed men at a house in the hotel zone. He says the gunmen opened fire with assault rifles and about 50 grenades on soldiers who arrived at the house. The soldiers found four Guerrero state police officers inside the house who said they were being held captive by the gunmen. The colonel led reporters through the scene early Sunday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of security reasons. The gunbattle started Saturday night and went on past midnight.
True, but Mexico is Mexico...at least the way CNN & USAToday will plaster the story all over their sites.
From what I've read in Mexican news, this was not "in the heart of the hotel zone", but in a residential area that had a couple of motels nearby. Of course, the English language press has plastered their headlines with "Shootout in Acapulco Resort". I've already had two emails from people with family in Cancun right now asking if their kin was alright. I had to give them a little geography lesson, Acapulco is more than 1000 miles/1700 kms away.
People only read the word Mexico, and the rest no longer matters. So if someone is hurt in Acapulco they think its next door to their families vacation spot even if it is over 1000 miles away. Go figure. This is how uneducated people are about he geography of Mexico and how they take things out of context. This is very bad for the image of Mexico and since people have no clue how far the two cities are apart it does nothing for tourism.
