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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Tom Phillips and Analy Nuño in Tapalpa. Photographs and video by Emilio Espejel

Shell-shocked and tense: inside the Mexican tourist town where ‘El Mencho’ made his last stand

Army personnel in a truck in front of a building and Mexico flag
Members of the Mexican army operate a checkpoint on a highway in Jalisco state after a wave of roadblocks and vehicle burnings attributed to organised crime groups. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The Guardian

Two days before one of the world’s most powerful drug lords was killed while trying to flee a chalet in the hills outside Mexico’s second biggest city, the Tapalpa Country Club posted an advert on Instagram inviting lovers to visit a place where they could “inhale peace [and] exhale stress”.

“Date idea: Escape to Tapalpa,” read the message, advertising romantic private cabins, picnics with spectacular lake views and a golf course “to have fun together”.

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