#18-01-2022

Last Tuesday, January 18, a kidnapping was documented in the Pie de la Cuesta area, within Acapulco de Juárez in the state of Guerrero, where a woman was aggressively introduced to a car to carry out the criminal act.

A security camera of the establishment was the one that recorded the event in detail, in which four hooded people carrying high-caliber firearms could be observed. One guarded the area, another was the driver and two others made the move.

The criminals entered the grocery store at 10:23 p.m. and took the woman. They took her outside between beatings and while they tried to get her into the car, a gray Honda Civic, the victim tried to defend herself, so she began to struggle with the kidnappers.

Faced with the woman's resistance, the criminals beat her with greater intensity until they managed to push her into the unit. It was at that moment when the guards were able to get into the car and escape with the victim on board, where she would have received more punishment.

While the beating was taking place, one of the accomplices threw what appears to be a piece of paper, where some instructions to carry out the extortion would have been written, one of the common activities in recent weeks for the tenants of the entity.

The video was broadcast on social networks to facilitate the investigation and be able to find those responsible, after the woman was released without serious injuries, who was working inside the establishment until the time of the kidnapping.

On January 12, Maximiliano Serrano Pérez, Secretary of Municipal Security of Acapulco, confirmed that extortion of businesses has increased since the beginning of 2022.

"There are calls and we have attended several people, however, there are too many and they are being invited to report these acts," the secretary confessed. He also pointed out that many victims do not report "due to the issue of not being intimidated, however, it has been detected that several numbers are not found in Guerrero."

According to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, between January and November 2021, 196 crimes of extortion, 14 kidnappings and 1,088 confirmed intentional homicides were recorded in Guerrero; figures that could be exceeded if the trend of the first days of January is maintained, according to Serrano Pérez.

The reaction by the Secretary of Municipal Security of Acapulco occurred after the murder of businessman Roberto Morales Silva, who was kidnapped last Saturday the 7th by an armed commando, for which other executives requested more support to combat crime.

Alejandro Martínez Sidney, director of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Fedecanaco) of Acapulco, demanded that the three levels of government stop the various attacks and extortions of which businessmen are victims, as he pointed out that, after the holiday season, they have increased harassment and demands for money over the phone and in person by criminals.

Following the demands of Martínez Sidney, the Army command deployed 220 more troops to the port of Acapulco, Iguala and Chilpancingo, places in which an increase in violent crimes has been officially registered during the last months of 2021 and in the first days of 2022.