Acapulco newspaper comes under fire as panicked workers scramble to seek shelter
By Bronson Pettitt / Nov. 11, 2010
Mexico Weekly
A group of gunmen entered an Acapulco newspaper Wednesday night and fired shots at El Sur de Guerrero, but no injuries were reported, employees said.
The attackers arrived in two SUVs at around 10:20 p.m. (local time), began shooting at the facades, entered the offices and continued shooting, disconnected phones and poured gasoline near the entrance, El Sur director Juan Angulo told journalist Carmen Aristegui on her Thursday-morning radio program on MVS Radio.
Editors, proofreaders, designers and advertising employees were working at the time of the attack, which lasted less than 10 minutes, but were able to seek shelter.
Angulo told Aristegui the newspaper had received no threats prior, and during the attacks, the gunmen “said absolutely nothing.”
However, violence and panic marked Acapulco Wednesday; El Sur's front page included the headline “Acapulco today: psychosis in schools due to rumors; violent removal of residents; armed attack at El Sur.”
'POLITICAL INTIMIDATION'
Angulo said the attack could be one of “political intimidation,” but added: “we have been very careful in the information we use regarding the topic” of organized crime and violence. The past three weeks have been particularly bloody in the coastal city, with more than 50 homicides.
The director also said Gov. Carlos Zeferino Torreblanca “is always speaking negatively about us. He attacks me personally. He says I don't have the intellectual independence to direct the newspaper.”
The governor has always had a very hostile attitude toward us,” Angulo told Aristegui.
The Associated Press reported that El Sur has been a “fierce critic of the government of Guerrero state.”
