Morgue workers lift a dismembered male body dumped on the street of a poor Acapulco neighborhood in broad daylight, then pick up his severed leg and a bag containing his head.
Placing the body parts in the back of a van, they drive away to the Mexican Pacific resort's only coroner's office, overflowing with scores of unidentified and unclaimed corpses.
Back inside the morgue's cold chambers, bodies lie in pairs side by side on shelves meant to hold just one -- grim evidence of the drug cartel-related killings swamping the authorities in Mexico's murder capital.
Officials granted AFP journalists a rare visit last week, when a worker opened a set of refrigerator doors to reveal the bodies inside.
Grey body bags cover most of them, however, bare feet stick out on one shelf. A red bag is marked "fetus." A cockroach scurries along the bottom of a fridge.
There are 174 bodies in all inside the five chambers, with a capacity meant for 95. Three have languished here since 2012. And there are no signs the number of new arrivals will drop despite the government's effort to combat the country's drug gangs.
Flies buzz around the three autopsy tables and the stench of death hangs in the warm air half an hour after another decapitated body has been examined.
The morgue -- which employs 10 doctors -- is "saturated because of the issue of violence and the bodies are not claimed," says Carlos de la Pena, head of Guerrero state's health department, which oversees the region's three overcrowded morgues.
- Daily deaths -
A total of 902 people were murdered last year in this once-glamorous city, and another 461 in the first half of this year, according to official figures.
Among a population of more than 800,000, that's a rate of 111 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015, making Acapulco one of the world's most violent cities outside war zones.
The fridges contain the corpses of 53 murder victims and the bones of 16 others found in clandestine graves or remote parts of the city. The rest are natural deaths, accident victims and remains from a crematorium that closed last year.
Most bodies that pass through the morgue are claimed.
However, "there are relatives who know the bodies are here but they don't claim them," the morgue's coordinator Carlos Estrada says. "We don't know why."
Estrada, 61, says the morgue handled two to three bodies, mostly accidents, per day 20 years ago. Now it's three to five, mostly murders.
"It's shocking because many times, we work on a body that's unknown," he says. "But it's a job that has to be done."
Officials are waiting for investigators to finish a backlog of paperwork to begin burying the unclaimed corpses in two months.
The bodies are continuing to pile up despite the deployment of thousands of soldiers and police on the streets and beaches.
At least 10 murders were reported during AFP's five-day visit last week.
A woman was killed near the morgue. Two more people died in a drive-by shooting at a strip bar. Another three decapitated bodies were found.
"I've had shifts where I've had six, seven, eight bodies," says Jose Esteban Anzastiga, a morgue van driver.
Some 95 percent of Acapulco's murders are linked to gang conflicts, Guerrero state's security spokesman Roberto Alvarez said.
The main groups battling for control of the local drug trade are the Beltran Leyva gang and the Independent Cartel of Acapulco, he added. Both are also plagued by internecine struggles.
Troops are not enough to solve the "security crisis" in Acapulco, he acknowledged, saying the economy has to improve and that people must participate by reporting crimes.
- 'The rhythm of fear' -
The struggle to get witnesses to testify is evident at the July 14 crime scene with the dismembered body.
The body parts lie behind a stolen taxi. It was abandoned with its trunk open on an avenue of the crime-ridden San Agustin neighborhood.
As people look on, investigators take pictures of the torso covered in black plastic bag. The stumps of his severed legs stick out. Another bag containing the head lies nearby.
A note held down by rocks was left behind, signed "La Verga Panda," a small local gang.
An investigator asks a woman watching from the gate of her humble home's garage, "Did you see someone?"
"I saw nothing," she answers.
No one ever sees anything, the investigator tells AFP on condition of anonymity.
Ten other residents near the crime scene all say they had neither seen nor heard anything. Some were not there when it happened.
"We have learned to live to the rhythm of fear," says a 60-year-old man in front of a store, declining to give his name because of security concerns.
"This no longer scares us," he adds, referring to the body across the road.
Last week, he says, he had to duck for cover during a drive-by shooting at a taxi stand.
Others say criminals demand money to allow people to have parties. Gangs have threatened to go door-to-door collecting money.
Many Acapulco residents are psychologically scarred by the violence.
Doctors Without Borders, the international charity group that helps victims of wars and natural disasters, launched a mental health program in January 2015 for those affected by crime.
More than 1,100 people have since met with psychologists, including victims of threats, extortion, kidnapping and torture.
Most suffer from depression and anxiety, some from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"People are afraid to speak," says Edgardo Zuniga, the MSF program's coordinator. "We think there are more."
Morgue workers lift a dismembered male body dumped on the street of a poor Acapulco neighborhood in broad daylight, then pick up his severed leg and a bag containing his head.
Placing the body parts in the back of a van, they drive away to the Mexican Pacific resort’s only coroner’s office, overflowing with scores of unidentified and unclaimed corpses.
Back inside the morgue’s cold chambers, bodies lie in pairs side by side on shelves meant to hold just one — grim evidence of the drug cartel-related killings swamping the authorities in Mexico’s murder capital.
Officials granted AFP journalists a rare visit last week, when a worker opened a set of refrigerator doors to reveal the bodies inside.
Grey body bags cover most of them, however, bare feet stick out on one shelf. A red bag is marked “fetus.” A cockroach scurries along the bottom of a fridge.
There are 174 bodies in all inside the five chambers, with a capacity meant for 95. Three have languished here since 2012. And there are no signs the number of new arrivals will drop despite the government’s effort to combat the country’s drug gangs.
Flies buzz around the three autopsy tables and the stench of death hangs in the warm air half an hour after another decapitated body has been examined.
The morgue — which employs 10 doctors — is “saturated because of the issue of violence and the bodies are not claimed,” says Carlos de la Pena, head of Guerrero state’s health department, which oversees the region’s three overcrowded morgues.
– Daily deaths –
A total of 902 people were murdered last year in this once-glamorous city, and another 461 in the first half of this year, according to official figures.
Among a population of more than 800,000, that’s a rate of 111 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015, making Acapulco one of the world’s most violent cities outside war zones.
The fridges contain the corpses of 53 murder victims and the bones of 16 others found in clandestine graves or remote parts of the city. The rest are natural deaths, accident victims and remains from a crematorium that closed last year.
Most bodies that pass through the morgue are claimed.
However, “there are relatives who know the bodies are here but they don’t claim them,” the morgue’s coordinator Carlos Estrada says. “We don’t know why.”
Estrada, 61, says the morgue handled two to three bodies, mostly accidents, per day 20 years ago. Now it’s three to five, mostly murders.
“It’s shocking because many times, we work on a body that’s unknown,” he says. “But it’s a job that has to be done.”
Officials are waiting for investigators to finish a backlog of paperwork to begin burying the unclaimed corpses in two months.
The bodies are continuing to pile up despite the deployment of thousands of soldiers and police on the streets and beaches.
At least 10 murders were reported during AFP’s five-day visit last week.
A woman was killed near the morgue. Two more people died in a drive-by shooting at a strip bar. Another three decapitated bodies were found.
“I’ve had shifts where I’ve had six, seven, eight bodies,” says Jose Esteban Anzastiga, a morgue van driver.
Some 95 percent of Acapulco’s murders are linked to gang conflicts, Guerrero state’s security spokesman Roberto Alvarez said.
The main groups battling for control of the local drug trade are the Beltran Leyva gang and the Independent Cartel of Acapulco, he added. Both are also plagued by internecine struggles.
Troops are not enough to solve the “security crisis” in Acapulco, he acknowledged, saying the economy has to improve and that people must participate by reporting crimes.
– ‘The rhythm of fear’ –
The struggle to get witnesses to testify is evident at the July 14 crime scene with the dismembered body.
The body parts lie behind a stolen taxi. It was abandoned with its trunk open on an avenue of the crime-ridden San Agustin neighborhood.
As people look on, investigators take pictures of the torso covered in black plastic bag. The stumps of his severed legs stick out. Another bag containing the head lies nearby.
A note held down by rocks was left behind, signed “La Verga Panda,” a small local gang.
An investigator asks a woman watching from the gate of her humble home’s garage, “Did you see someone?”
“I saw nothing,” she answers.
No one ever sees anything, the investigator tells AFP on condition of anonymity.
Ten other residents near the crime scene all say they had neither seen nor heard anything. Some were not there when it happened.
“We have learned to live to the rhythm of fear,” says a 60-year-old man in front of a store, declining to give his name because of security concerns.
“This no longer scares us,” he adds, referring to the body across the road.
Last week, he says, he had to duck for cover during a drive-by shooting at a taxi stand.
Others say criminals demand money to allow people to have parties. Gangs have threatened to go door-to-door collecting money.
Many Acapulco residents are psychologically scarred by the violence.
Doctors Without Borders, the international charity group that helps victims of wars and natural disasters, launched a mental health program in January 2015 for those affected by crime.
More than 1,100 people have since met with psychologists, including victims of threats, extortion, kidnapping and torture.
Most suffer from depression and anxiety, some from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“People are afraid to speak,” says Edgardo Zuniga, the MSF program’s coordinator. “We think there are more.”
