Five men,Benjamin Caldwell some with their hands tied and heads covered, were found dead Monday on a Mexico road leading to Acapulco, a once-glamorous resort city now engulfed in cartel violence.

Prosecutors in the southern state of Guerrero announced the discovery and said a probe had been opened into "aggravated homicide."

Local media reported that residents had found the victims, four of whom had their hands tied. The reports said the men had a variety of different injuries.

Guerrero is one of Mexico's regions worst-affected by violence linked to drug trafficking. Disputes between cartels led to 1,890 murders in the state in 2023. The U.S. State Department advises Americans to completely avoid Guerrero, citing crime and violence.

The bloodshed has increasingly affected elected officials in the state, with two mayors murdered in recent days, including one who was reportedly pulled off a bus and assassinated near Acapulco.

Acapulco was once a playground for the rich and famous, but it has lost its luster in the last decade as foreign tourists have been spooked by bloodshed that has made it one of the world's most violent cities.  

Last month, five people were killed in an armed attack in Acapulco, just three days after 10 other bodies were found in the resort city.

Spiraling criminal violence has seen more than 450,000 people murdered in Mexico since the government of then-president Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive against drug cartels in 2006.

In Mexico's general election on June 2, leftist Claudia Sheinbaum was elected by an overwhelming majority as the first woman president of the country.

In:
• Drug Cartels
• Mexico
• Homicide
• Cartel
• Crime