SECTUR Hints at Compensation for Loss of Tianguis

(Mexico, AN 9 May) Gloria Guevara Manzo, the federal tourism secretary so hotly vilified by local politicians for her decision to take the annual tourism fair away from Acapulco, has offered some “sweeteners” to representatives of the hotel sector and travel agencies in the port city. She said that SECTUR would promote the return to Acapulco of the “Cinematographic Review,” the “Air Show” and “Acafest,” three events that have not survived the government’s war on organized crime. She met with the private sector without consulting either Acapulco Mayor Manuel Añorve Baños or Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero, both men categorically opposed to Ms. Guevara’s policies and decisions.

The private sector representatives, for their part, justified their meeting with what seemed to be a sworn enemy of Acapulco on the grounds that the federal official needed to hear what were the worries and fears of the tourism sector in Acapulco, and that a means of coordinated effort needed to be found for solving Acapulco’s tourism problems. David Abarca Rodríguez, representing the travel agents, said that even though the sector continues to fight for the return of the Tinguis Turístico to Acapulco, it would be good to know what alternatives, if any, the federal government proposes to rescue the tourism industry in the port. His organization will support “those decisions that are best for Acapulco, and not necessarily for the politicians, who have been making speeches for two months without telling us anything of a strategy for the rescue of the city.” The participants emphasized that it was not a secret meeting, and that it was a positive step that the tourism secretary had listened to their problems. “There’s nothing sinister about this meeting, they said, this is not the first of its kind. We want to get together with the government officials frequently.”