Transfer of Convention Center to the Navy called Act of Ill Will

(Acapulco, ElSur 19 April) Business leaders and association members from the tourist sector in Acapulco have said that the Navy’s announced intention to turn Acapulco’s International Convention Center into a Command and Control Center against organized crime is an unequivocal act of ill will and bad faith on the part of the federal government. They vowed to resist the decision for as long as it takes to cancel it. In separate statements, city council member and tourism business leader, Fernando Reina Iglesias, Javier Saldívar Rodríguez, president of the Acapulco chapter of the National Chamber of Commerce, Laura Caballero Rodríguez of the Merchant Association of the Costera, and José Luis Gallegos Peralta, head of “Grupo ACA,” all said that the convention center has historically been a place of promotion and development of tourism, not only for the port of Acapulco, but for the rest of the State of Guerrero. They took the decision of the federal government as a slap in the face, an insult and outrage. Reina Iglesias called it a sword thrust to the stomach, “especially when you consider that the Naval Base is just a few blocks farther away.” “The real estate should remain in the use for which it was originally designed,” he said, “and not for a military bunker.”

All agreed that the maneuver is a purposeful act of ill will by the federal government towards Acapulco. Javier Saldívar Rodríguez called it “a shameful act.” Laura Caballero said, “First of all, it is a mockery on the part of ex-governor Zeferino Torreblanca, who said he would be renovating the convention center, while all along he knew that the Navy would take it over. It is sad that he treated his own citizens that way.” She added, “And it is regrettable that President Calderón approved this decision in an underhanded way, when the situation in Acapulco is so abnormal. We seem to be living in a perpetual curfew zone at night, where you see more armed men in military uniform than normal people.” José Luis Gallegos Peralta of Grupo ACA lamented that the decisions were made in secret without consulting with anyone locally: “The only thing we can say about it is that they are despicable and ungrateful people.”