HOUSTON - The Mexican state of Guerrero has gone from a tranquil tourist destination to being one of the most dangerous in Mexico over the past few years Earlier this month, the city of Chilpancingo garnered national attention due to the assassination of city mayor Alejandro Arcos only a few days after being sworn in Mexico's Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) reported 16 new deaths after a shootout between law enforcement and criminal groups in Tecpan de Galeana Authorities detailed that during the early hours of October 22 a shooting was reported in the remote town of El Moreno involving two criminal groups and local police members they solicited backup from the Army and National Guard units that are stationed in El Ticui located less than 20 miles from Tecpan de Galena SEDENA reported two local law enforcement officers were killed while four others were injured during the clash They were transported to Acapulco to receive medical care The agency also reported 14 casualties from aggressors Guerrero's Attorney General's Office is now investigating the attack After the shootout authorities secured the arrest of 11 suspected cartel members seized 16 vehicles as well as 15 large fire arms and multiple cartridges and clips The attack was linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) as images starting surfacing on social media of black vehicles with the organization's initials Users on social media detailed that the vehicles were allegedly circling in a caravan around Tecpan de Galena relatively close to the Army's 109th Infantry Regiment that supervises the area Earlier this month, Mexico's Federal Security Cabinet revealed that, between January and September of 2024, 1,249 murders had been reported in Guerrero The situation has escalated to the point in which the U.S State Department is now advising Americans to completely avoid Guerrero due to the high volume of crime and violence According to Causa en Común an organization that keeps track of police casualties in Mexico 2024 has been significantly bloody for local law enforcement The organization has registered at least 240 police casualties so far this year Guerrero is among the states with the highest number of police deaths in 2024 Causa en Común says that 16 Guerrero officers have died in the line of duty with two more expected to be added after the October 24 clash Guanajuato is the state with the most violence against local law enforcement Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Instituto para el Manejo y Conservación de la Biodiversidad A.C of the expected 19,768 acres have been protected indigenous and community-conserved areas are the fastest growing category of protected areas These reserves now exceed strict-protected reserves in both quantity and land area This is especially true in the Mexican state of Guerrero less than 0.5 percent of protected areas have strict protection few opportunities remain to declare new protected areas without overlapping community land but it needs to incorporate existing community land use The region is also part of an ancestral Jaguar corridor stretching from the United States to Argentina But the current level of habitat fragmentation prevents the big cats from moving between protected areas Restoring connectivity for Jaguars across this corridor is a global conservation priority Rainforest Trust and local partner Instituto para el Manejo y Conservación de la Biodiversidad A.C (INMACOB) seek $17,153 to establish a 19,768-acre community conservation area The reserve will protect endemic species of the Técpan mountains and serve as a Jaguar corridor The local partner has an agreement with three ejidos (land farmed communally under an official agreement) to start work CONANP (the Mexican National Commission of Protected Areas) will certify the reserve as an Area Voluntarily Destined to Conservation (ADVC) The Endangered Schultze’s Stream Frog courtesy of J by Instituto para el Manejo y Conservación de la Biodiversidad The Técpan mountain range rises from 600 to 2900 meters above sea level along with its soil and climatic diversity Forest types in the region include deciduous mesophilic mountain and mixed pine-oak-oyamel Forest type diversity leads to resident species diversity researchers have found 135 species of terrestrial vertebrates including 23 amphibians The mountains are also home to what is likely the largest Jaguar population in Guerrero But a lot of research is still left undone there have been no inventories of the region’s flora The proposed protected area is home to endemic amphibians such as the Mourning Treefrog and Schultze’s Stream Frog No one has found these species in any protected area and researchers know little about their population sizes Jaguars live everywhere from southern Arizona to northern Argentina IUCN now lists them as “Near Threatened” with a declining population due in part to habitat fragmentation across their wide range But Jaguars have cultural importance in Guerrero — making them a potential conservation catalyst Jaguars have facilitated collaboration between ejidos and NGOs in the past Conservation and sustainable forest management is necessary to preserve the region’s biodiversity Forest protection is especially important to exclusive species and habitat specialists Ecosystem conservation will also support environmental services that impact local communities The proposed protected area is under threat from extensive timber exploitation cattle ranching and habitat fragmentation from expanding agriculture Agricultural expansion can also lead to forest fires These fires deteriorate habitat quality and threaten species with limited dispersal capabilities such as frogs The ADVC will organize brigades to prevent and control forest fires The reserve will also organize a community monitoring committee to prevent logging El Platanillo and Las Humedades) are taking part in the project All three communities are in the Técpan de Galeana municipality The local partner will try to include the neighboring ejido of Brakes of Puerto Rico in the Ajuchitlán del Progreso municipality The ejidos will allocate part of their territory for conservation and work on biological studies they will coordinate with CONANP to survey protect and restore habitat in the protected area CONANP often establishes management guidelines and contributes resources through different programs But the communities will carry the direct management and conservation of the ADVC the ejidos are jointly responsible for conservation Since the ejidos own the territory and are the main stakeholders in natural resource conservation The project will establish a community conservation area under the category of Area Voluntarily Destined to Conservation (ADVC-CONANP) This designation will conserve biodiversity in the Técpan mountain range for up to 99 years the project will describe and justify the biological relevance of the Técpan mountains This justification will help optimize Jaguar connectivity and establish the protected area the project will delineate boundaries and have them validated by community assemblies Many of the region’s environmental problems stem from disorganization in natural resource mismanagement the ADVC will enact strategies to improve management and biodiversity protection zoning and regulating the different allowed land uses in the ADVC such as core areas nature tourism areas or areas that need management firefighting and fragmented area restoration But the communities need further training to make the work more efficient We work hard to ensure we raise only the funds needed for each project In the rare case we raise more money than needed or a project comes in under budget excess monies will be transferred to the Conservation Action Fund This fund supports our important conservation work throughout the tropics Thank you for signing up for news and information alerts from Rainforest Trust Our board members and other supporters cover our operating costs so you can give knowing your whole gift will protect rainforests and general and administrative costs through a combination of investment earnings and unrestricted contributions from our closest supporters 100% of your donation is allocated to conservation projects Representational image | Photo: CanvaMexico City: Multiple clashes on Thursday between Mexican security forces and alleged criminals left at least 16 people dead in the violence-plagued southern state of Guerrero A first skirmish occurred in the town of Tecpan de Galeana where two were killed and four more injured security forces clashed with a criminal group that had attacked a military base in the same area according to a statement by the SEDENA national defense secretariat Such comments are punishable under cyber laws The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of readers and not that of Mathrubhumi An archeological site believed to be the important Aztec settlement of Apancalecan has been discovered in the Costa Grande region of the state of Guerrero announced archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) this week Apancalecan was known only through references in codices — pictorial manuscripts that recorded the pre-Hispanic history of Mexico Apancalecan’s name in Nahua means “place of the houses with water channels,” and it is referred to as a “main town” or “head town” in the Matrícula de Tributos codex of the early 1500s The site in the El Cerrito community of Tecpan de Galeana — not far from the highway that connects Zihuatanejo and Acapulco — includes one large mound and “26 minor mounds … such as altars and elongated structures in a good state of conservation … as well as residential areas and ball-playing fields,” INAH noted in its Tuesday press release Located 850 meters from the Tecpan River and 1 km from the Tetitlán Lagoon the complex also includes “deep holes … possibly associated with water storage and dams,” according to anthropologist Rodolfo Lobato Rodríguez Lobato is the head of the museum at a similar archeological zone officials said — Soledad de Maciel-Xihuacan — near the town of Petatlán Lobato coordinated the work at the site during a three-day surface tour in June logging it at 29 hectares (about 71 acres) He and representatives from INAH’s Guerrero center arrived after local residents informed officials of the existence of what seemed to be pre-Hispanic mounds the preliminary survey revealed one large mound standing 25 meters (82 feet) tall with a base of 73.5 meters (241 feet) by 60 meters (about 197 feet) The 26 smaller mounds surround the large one A rocky outcrop with carved pools was also recorded and the site contains channeling systems and complex internal dams who said it will continue to investigate the site Apancalecan appears in The Matrícula de Tributos codex which names the main towns that made up the province of Cihuatlán established after the conquest of the region by the Mexica (1497–1502) “Due to the characteristics of the ceramic material recovered on the surface — among which Teotihuacán-style ring supports stand out — we think that the site was inhabited from the Classic period (A.D another important settlement on the Costa Grande of Guerrero and that [Apancalecan] continued until the Late Postclassic (A.D The find is another part of the archaeological puzzle of the Costa Grande whose pieces have been fitting together in the last three decades and have revealed 1,300 years of development A perimeter will be set up around the area to guarantee its protection CORRECTION: The original version of this article contained a photo from the archaeological site of Xochicalco that misidentified it as being from the ruins of Teotihuacán With reports from INAH and La Jornada ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC It’s mainly the tourists who are shaken Details of the quake, from USGS Time.com reported that the quake shook Mexico City for at least 30 seconds with buildings swaying as people fled from high rise buildings to the streets Mexico City is vulnerable even to distant earthquakes because much of it sits atop the muddy sediments of drained lake beds that quiver as quake waves hit a magnitude-8.1 quake killed at least 6,000 people in Mexico City and destroyed many buildings despite being centered 250 miles (400 kilometers) away on the Pacific Coast According to USGS: [Mexico is] located atop three of the large tectonic plates [and] is one of the world’s most seismically active regions The relative motion of these crustal plates causes frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions Most of the Mexican landmass is on the westward moving North American plate The Pacific Ocean floor south of Mexico is being carried northeastward by the underlying Cocos plate when the Pacific Ocean floor encounters the lighter continental crust of the Mexican landmass the ocean floor is subducted beneath the North American plate creating the deep Middle American trench along Mexico’s southern coast the westward moving Mexico landmass is slowed and crumpled creating the mountain ranges of southern Mexico and earthquakes near Mexico’s southern coast it melts; the molten material is then forced upward through weaknesses in the overlying continental crust This process has created a region of volcanoes across south-central Mexico known as the Cordillera Neovolcánica Bottom line: A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake took place this morning in southern and central Mexico where many Mexicans are vacationing for the Easter holiday There are no immediate reports of injuries or damages We will update as we receive more information We invite you to visit our campaign page to discover why we need your contributions now more than ever to preview an illustration from Guy Ottewell’s great book that we're helping finalize and to learn more about EarthSky’s history “Things are always so much more peaceful when looking up.” We couldn’t agree more we apologize for the popup and greatly appreciate your support sending frightened office workers streaming into the streets away from high-rise buildings The 6.4-magnitude temblor in southern Guerrero state had an epicentre about 15 kilometres (9 miles) north of Tecpan de Galeana and about 171 miles (277 kilometres) south-west of Mexico City There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage The quake had a depth of 15 miles (23 kilometres) There was only mild shaking in the resort city of Acapulco The USGS downgraded the magnitude from 6.8 Carmen Lopez was leaving a downtown Mexico City office building when the ground began to sway "That was just too scary," said Lopez as she quickly started dialing her cellphone to alert friends and family thousands of people poured out from neighbouring office buildings following pre-planned evacuation routes to areas considered safe from any potential of falling glass Mexico City is vulnerable to distant earthquakes because much of it sits atop the muddy sediments of drained lake beds A 7.2-magnitude quake with an epicentre about 40 miles (66 kilometres) from Thursday's quake shook central and southern Mexico on 18 April A strong magnitude 4.6 earthquake hit 12.3 km (8 mi) away from Tecpan de Galeana, Estado de Guerrero, Mexico 2024 at 7.42 pm local time (America/Mexico City GMT -6) The quake had a very shallow depth of 5.8 km (3.6 mi) and was felt by many near the epicenter The shallow depth of the quake caused it to be felt more strongly near the epicenter than a deeper quake of similar magnitude would.