Three cans and a spark were enough to put an end to the oldest and most emblematic nightclub in the port of Acapulco: the Baby’O. The images of the security cameras leaked to the press show the moment of the attack. Three men with caps and their faces covered enter the room by one of the stairs and begin to spray the contents of several cans on the carpet, chairs, tables and the area of the dance floor.
Later, one of them uses a lighter to set fire to an object that he throws on the liquid and that triggers the flares. In a matter of seconds, the place is on fire, while the criminals flee through another of the entrances. The damage has been material and there are no fatalities after the attack, only the poisoning from inhaling smoke from the vigilante who was also treated by a shock nervous as a result of the break-in.
The CCTV recording shows what the owner of the nightclub had already described the day before and discards the hypothesis that the authorities were considering that the fire had been due to a short circuit. “Total loss”, assured Eduardo Cesarman regarding the damage inside, in an interview with Joaquín López Dóriga. “They went to burn it and it is not worth it that they want to cover the sun with a finger,” said Cesarman, given the indications that the owners themselves could be responsible for the fire. “Why are we going to burn it? The place was ready to open, we have been maintaining it for a year and a half ”, assured the owner. The nightclub had been closed for 18 months as a result of the health emergency caused by covid-19 and had recently reopened to offer food and drink on weekends. At least 80 families depended on the business.
Cesarman has said that the insurance is assessing the damage to the property and that the policy he has contracted does not cover an attack like this. “For arson there is no insurance,” he said in the interview. The Guerrero State Prosecutor’s Office has an investigation open with which it seeks to clarify the facts. Meanwhile, state and municipal authorities are silent. The fire occurred on the same day as the transfer of powers between the administration of Adela Román and that of Abelina López, the new municipal president of the Morena party. This newspaper has contacted the Acapulco City Council, but the council has declined to comment on the matter.
While the Prosecutor’s Office finds out the identity of the criminals, the debate about what happened at Baby’O puts on the table the possible involvement of organized crime, although the owner of the premises himself says that he never received threats or extortion from the narco. “We have never received threats from the right to the floor or from anyone. Our life in Acapulco does not include crime, less organized crime. Acapulco is a peaceful place for us, ”Cesarman pointed out.
President López Obrador himself has spoken out in this regard, questioned by the increase in insecurity in Acapulco. The president has asked to wait for the investigations and not to directly link the attack as an act of organized crime. “The owners are being asked to provide information and they have delayed, in short, there is still nothing clear, you can not say what the mobile is, you have to wait for us and it is very likely that you will have information,” replied López Obrador this Friday, during his morning press conference.
Acapulco thus loses one of the iconic points of the city full of history and unforgettable memories through which the most select of the city passed. Mexican high society and the jet set international. “Baby’O where you see and they see you”, was the motto of the famous nightclub since 1976. Luis Miguel, Michael Jordan, Carolina de Monaco, Ringo Starr, Pierce Brosnan, Julio Iglesias, Elizabeth Taylor … they all wanted to see and be seen between those four walls that have now been devastated by fire.
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