A memoir by John R. Lyman

An American in Acapulco

Dodging Raindrops and Bullets

One morning in 2011 I got a phone call from someone, a drug cartel gang member perhaps, threatening to behead me if I didn't pay a ransom.

Cover of An American in Acapulco: Dodging Raindrops and Bullets by John R. Lyman

The story

Paradise, until it wasn't.

After living in Acapulco for years, one morning in 2011 I got a phone call from someone, a drug cartel gang member perhaps, threatening to behead me if I didn't pay a ransom. Multiple murders and beheadings were happening regularly in town. Recently, a good friend of mine had been chased down the main strip, his body riddled with bullets as the violent confrontation came to an end, all within earshot of my apartment nearby. These things were all too real.

In 2002 I moved to Acapulco, Mexico, a tropical beach town long past its prime, but still a kind of paradise. Corrupt cops educated me on the rules of the road, and I learned how to get things done by greasing palms with increasing quantities of pesos. When things got too dangerous, I lost my beach.

This is a story of culture, of crime, and of resolution.

John R. Lyman, 2017

Black-and-white poster for An American in Acapulco

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Excerpts

From “Flight”

One Thursday morning, January 20th, 2011, as I went about my business at home in Sunny Acapulco, my telephone rang. The call would change my life. The man on the line said he was a Federal Police Officer. […] Nevertheless, I was terrified.

The caller said, “we have proof, we know it was from your phone”. Then he asked me if I had heard about all the beheadings in the Acapulco area. Of course I knew about them, they were a constant occurrence. […] He said his commander was willing to accept 25,000 pesos to hand over the tape and forget the whole thing.

From “Afternoon Assassination”

On April 15th I got a phone call from Johana. We had spoken the day before, shortly after a prolonged, and disturbing, shooting occurred on the main strip, in the middle of the afternoon, about a half a mile from my apartment. […] The guys who were working on the roof next to my apartment all ducked down or got on their knees while the shooting occurred. I wasn’t sure if it was firecrackers or gunshots, but I found out pretty soon that it was the latter.

When Johana called me the next day the first thing she said was, “It was Fer”. I didn’t hear her well. She repeated it and I went cold.

From “Brink of Incarceration”

The next thing we knew there were cops around the car. I knew them, they were cops who scored coke for my friend Paco and who hung out at his taco stand, certainly not upstanding citizens in their own right. I told them I knew them, certainly they recognized me. They said it didn’t matter now. […]

They said they were going to take me to Immigration or to the Federal Police. One of them got in my car and started talking to Ada Lilia. He searched my car. He found about a gram of bud. I thought I was in serious trouble.

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Fragmentos

De “Huida”

Un jueves por la mañana, 20 de enero de 2011, mientras me ocupaba de mis asuntos en mi casa en Sunny Acapulco, sonó mi teléfono. La llamada cambiaría mi vida. El hombre en la línea dijo que era un Oficial de la Policía Federal. […] Sin embargo, estaba aterrorizado.

La persona que llamó dijo: “Tenemos pruebas, sabemos que fue por tu teléfono”. Luego me preguntó si había oído hablar de todas las decapitaciones en el área de Acapulco. Por supuesto que las conocía, eran una constante. […] Dijo que su comandante estaba dispuesto a aceptar 25.000 pesos para entregar la cinta y olvidarse de todo.

De “El asesinato de mi amigo Fer”

El 15 de abril recibí una llamada de Johana. Habíamos hablado el día anterior, poco después de que se produjera un tiroteo prolongado y perturbador en la franja principal, a media tarde, a unos 800 metros de mi apartamento. […] Los tipos que estaban trabajando en el techo al lado de mi apartamento se agacharon o se arrodillaron mientras se producía el tiroteo. No estaba seguro si eran petardos o disparos, pero pronto descubrí que era lo último.

Cuando Johana me llamó al día siguiente, lo primero que dijo fue: “Era Fer”. No la oí bien. Ella lo repitió y se me heló la sangre.

De “Al borde de encarcelamiento”

Lo siguiente que supimos es que había policías alrededor del auto. Yo los conocía, eran policías que le conseguían coca a mi amigo Paco y que pasaban el rato en su puesto de tacos, sin duda no eran personas honradas por derecho propio. Les dije que los conocía, ciertamente me reconocieron. Dijeron que ya no importaba. […]

Dijeron que me iban a llevar a Inmigración o a la Policía Federal. Uno de ellos se subió a mi coche y empezó a hablar con Ada Lilia. Registró mi coche. Encontró cerca de un gramo de mota. Pensé que estaba en problemas serios.