In the 1960's, 70's and 80's, a trip to "The Pearl of the Pacific," also known as Acapulco, could get a tourist rest and relaxation, a Hollywood celebrity sighting, or at least an enviable tan. But that was then, this is now. In the struggle for smuggling routes, the once popular tourist destination has become a "drug-battered" haven of violence and death in a conflict that has claimed over 30,000 lives since Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels in 2006.  Presently, the Mexican drug trade is controlled by La Familia Michoacana, one of the most violent drug cartels.                       In January of this year, a "four-day death toll" reached a staggering 31, including one murdered man found "shot in the head and tossed under a bridge with his shirt pulled up over his head."  Police killings and drug hits have...(Read Full Post)