Guerrero: Not Invited to Cruise Ship Promotion Meeting?

(Chilpancingo, AN 11 April) José Cedano Galera, the newly-installed state undersecretary of tourism planning, told the press yesterday about a disturbing snub of the state of Guerrero by the national government. He said to reporters, “it was very important that Guerrero participate in the meeting that Gloria Guevara (the federal tourism secretary) held in Miami with the senior management of the foreign cruise ship lines, but unfortunately we were not invited.” Acapulco and Zihuatanejo are two important ports of call for cruise ships on Mexico’s Pacific coast. The implication is that the federal tourism secretary, who recently caused controversy by making a unilateral decision to move the Tianguis Turístico away from Acapulco, really does not understand the sector that she is supposed to promote. Others felt that perhaps the snub was a means of petty revenge for the local uproar over the tourism convention. The governor of Guerrero went to Guevara’s boss, President Calderón, and had the decision rescinded.

Undersecretary Cedano Galera admitted that it was possible that Guerrero actually had been invited to the meeting in Miami, but due to the change in government ten days ago, no one on the new team knew about it. Apparently no one in the Torreblanca administration had paid any attention to the invitation, if one was sent. In that case, bungling bureaucrats at the state level caused Guerrero to miss another promotion opportunity, not the animus or ignorance of an embattled cabinet member.