Years of gang warfare has turned the spring-breaker destination into a Gotham-style nightmare. Now some of its remaining residents are taking to the streets in a desperate call for peace

After a mass exodus of Tampico's middle class, some of its most majestic buildings, such as the Edificio Maza, lie abandoned. Photograph: Kurt Hollander

Thousands of people dressed in white, carrying white balloons and waving white handkerchiefs, have been parading down the main streets of Tampico, Mexico, recently. But these people weren’t part of a local carnival, art event or other joyous celebration. They have taken to the streets in a desperate call for help.

So-called “ultra-violence” has converted Tampico – a lush, tropical city on the Gulf of Mexico with a population of 300,000 and falling – into a Gotham-like nightmare. In the last couple of weeks, shoot-outs on crowded streets in broad daylight have resulted in 25 deaths. A gas truck was set on fire at the main entrance to the city. A grenade was thrown into a bar (it didn’t explode); another bar was sprayed with machine-gun fire. A much-loved locale that sold tortas de la barda (a sandwich made with ham and beans) was burnt to the ground. Fires were lit in a gas refinery. A sales lot of new cars was torched.

Tampico’s air has long been blackened by smoke from the city’s three major oil and gas refineries, but these days the dark smoke hovering over the city testifies to the presence of an all-out gang war. Tampico is one of Mexico’s most violent cities in one of its most violent states, Tamaulipas.

As a result of the violence, the local real estate market has bottomed out. Those who flee the city usually can’t sell their homes and businesses, so more and more buildings, including some of Tampico’s largest and most impressive ones, lie abandoned. Buildings that could easily survive for another century are mere empty shells, with huge trees growing through the roofs and out of the windows. Such levels of abandonment are rarely seen in the centre of a major city....Continue Reading

> via The Guardian