Acapulco

Acapulco

Big events in 2009:
In February 2009, the US State Department issued a travel alert directed at college students planning spring break trips to Acapulco. The warning—a result of violent activity springing from Mexico's drug cartel debacle—took college campuses by storm, with some schools going so far as to warn their students about the risks of travel to Mexico over spring break. An email to a listserv of The Owl Society—an underground social club at Penn—reported that former CIA director George Tenet forced his own son to cancel a trip to Acapulco after allegedly receiving intelligence that the drug cartels were planning attacks on American spring breakers. The email quickly spread across Penn's campus and reached campuses all across the country overnight. The New York Times tracked the travels of another Penn student on spring break in Acapulco just a week after the dissemination of the email, while Bill O'Reilly devoted a segment of his show, The Factor, to urge students to stay away from Acapulco. In June 2009 a number of incidents occurred between the drug cartel and the government. These included coordinated attacks on police headquarters and open battles in the streets involving large-caliber weapons and grenades. However, no incidents of violence against spring breakers were reported.

Profile:
Country Mexico
State Guerrero
Municipality Acapulco
Government
- Mayor Manuel A?orve Ba?os
(2009-2012, PRI-PVEM)
Area
- City 1,882.6 km2 (726.9 sq mi)
Elevation 30 m (98 ft)
Population
- City 717,766 (municipality)
- Urban 616,394
- Demonym Acapulque?o(a)
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
Postal code 39300-39898
Area code(s) 744
Acapulco (Officially known as Acapulco de Juárez) is a city, and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 300 kilometres (190 mi) southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay. It is a port of call for shipping and cruising lines running between Panama and San Francisco, California, United States. As of the 2005 census, the population of the urbanized area was 616,394, while that of the administrative municipality was 717,766 people. The municipality, which has an area of 1,882.6 square kilometres (726.9 sq mi), includes numerous small localities outside of the city. The tourist resort city of Acapulco is the largest city in the state, far larger than the state capital Chilpancingo.