By MARK LORENZANA
The Autopista del Sol, which connects Mexico City with Acapulco, the city and major seaport in the southwestern Mexican coastal state of Guerrero, has become a danger for motorists traveling along the busy highway due to constant assaults and robbery.
On Saturday, Nov. 5, travelers were robbed by armed men on the Autopista del Sol, on the stretch between Acapulco and Tierra Colorada — the city and seat of the municipality of Juan R. Escudero in Guerrero.
Those affected reported on social media that armed men had situated themselves near the Dos Arroyos bridge aboard a white Mazda and a Honda, without specifying the model of the vehicles. The victims explained that the cars were parked across the road to block other vehicles and force them to stop. The armed individuals then robbed motorists of their belongings at gunpoint.
Some motorists, out of fear, turned back before arriving at the Dos Arroyos bridge.
“Good afternoon. Everyone on the highway, turn back. They are assaulting people here on the Dos Arroyos section. We are going in the opposite direction,” one of the drivers, who warned fellow motorists, announced on Twitter.
The assaults and robberies reportedly started around 10:45 a.m. on Saturday.
After the reports on social media, security personnel were deployed — which included elements of the Mexican National Guard (GN) and the state police — along the Autopista del Sol Mexico City-Acapulco highway. As of the evening of Saturday, Nov. 6, no arrests have been made.
“Elements of the state police have been mobilized to the area, in order to provide support to the National Guard personnel, the entity in charge of security in said road,” said the Secretariat of Public Security of Guerrero in a statement.
Likewise, reconnaissance flights were reportedly carried out over the highway to try to locate the criminals.
Various complaints have been posted on social networks, claiming that these roads remain unprotected by authorities despite the multiple occasions in which assaults and highway robberies have been committed on motorists by criminal elements.
On Oct. 9, armed men assaulted Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) member César Iván Pérez Vargas, also the mayor of Cuautepec, Guerrero, and stole his truck while he was driving on the Autopista del Sol.
The events occurred on the section between Zumpango and Huitziltepec, while he was traveling with his wife and his private secretary.
On the night of June 19 of this year, a similar incident happened on the same highway, when a woman was killed in an attempted robbery near the town of Tulimán in Huitzuco.