Homicide of Canadian National Causes Reaction Abroad

(Acapulco, AN 1 November) Over the weekend, CBC news in Canada broadcast widely the case of Daniel Alan Dion, a 51-year-old Ottowa native who was found dead in Acapulco last Thursday. He had been missing for several days. According to police reports, he was living in Taxco, and for 10 years or more had operated a business of selling “ecological purses,” fashion items made by the incarcerated from recyclable materials as part of a rehabilitation program. The company is called “Cool Bolsa.” Dion’s body was found in the trunk of an automobile he rented in Mexico City for his trip to Acapulco. Of the hundreds of comments received on the CBC website, all were extremely negative. The authorities have so far been silent on the details of the crime, and many of the reported details are contradictory. As of now, the foul play does not appear to be the result of the narco gang wars; no messages were encountered, and the "modus operandi" is different. Rather, initial reports indicate that he was the victim of someone whom he knew. His partner, “Denisse,” is being questioned, and his relationships with the Social Rehabilitation Center of Acapulco are also being examined.

In a comment on the impact of the case abroad, Sergio Salmerón Manzanares, who promotes Acapulco’s Playa Suites Hotel in the Canadian market, said that such horrible events totally undermine promotion efforts for the port city. The violence in Acapulco “renders useless any promotion whatever if we cannot create confidence for the tourist. [It is] not only this event; everything that is going on in the country and on the border, the whole context of instability, torpedoes our whole promotion effort. If we cannot guarantee the safety of our visitors, we are out of business."