Acapulco

The Financial Times has just posted a report suggesting that exit polls following Sunday’s bitterly-contested gubernatorial election showed the left-wing PRD poised for an important victory in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero.

The state – about the size of Ireland or West Virginia – is famed for beach resorts such as Acapulco and Ixtapa-Zihuatenejo. But leave behind the glistening bay for the journey inland to the Mexican capital and within minutes of exiting the bus terminal you will bear witness to the other Acapulco – the striking contrast between wealth and poverty that characterises the region.

Sprawling barrios cling precariously to eroded hillsides, offering a glimpse of the rutted canyons and hillsides of the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains that define the state’s rural character. A backdrop to the enduring poverty and simmering anger at government neglect and oppression. Lack of opportunities has spawned violence, ragtag bands of guerrillas and a heavy-handed response. I’d like to believe that wresting the state from the 76-year vice-like grip of the PRI may offer some new hope for change. Maybe… just maybe.

The start of the Easter holidays is traditionally marked by many Mexicans with a dash to the beach. This year is no different with, for example, an estimated 1 million holidaymakers heading to the dark sandy beaches of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico this weekend. This is despite a mini-scandal that broke last week that has sparked a national debate regarding the safety of bathing in the country’s coastal waters.

A handful of beaches in the states of Veracruz, Guerrero and Oaxaca have been categorised as unsafe for swimming (animated graphic) and following an urgent mini-summit, the Tourism, Health, and Environment Ministers and a Navy Admiral announced that results from water samples would now be published monthly on their respective websites.

There is an excellent discussion thread on this topic on the Lonely Planet website.

Not that much of this news has filtered beyond Mexico’s borders – although the Dallas Morning News did publish an article by Laurence Iliff last month. Pacific resorts such as Zihuatanejo and Acapulco have come in for some particularly heavy criticism. “Our waters are healthy,” the News article quotes Acapulco Mayor Alberto López Rosas as declaring after a recent public dip in the bay. Rosas presented me with a tiny statuette of a cliff-diver two weeks ago, although I saw the telltale yellowish rings of gloop myself at La Quebrada that very evening (pictured left). Strong currents accepted, contamination along stretches of the surfing beach at Revolcadero was the worst I’ve seen on any beach anywhere.

Of course, the Mexican hotel sector is livid. On Friday, Mexican Hotel & Motel Association president, Miguel Torruco Marqués, pleaded for this information to be withheld from the public because it “hurts the purse of thousands of Mexicans.” This position is regrettable, although the timing of the announcement just before the busiest holiday of the year did inflame the situation. Donning the current administration’s new badge of transparency, Tourism Secretary Leticia Navarro defended the Federal government’s decision to make the results public and chose to draw attention to the 132 beaches (of 140 that are monitored) that are in “perfect condition,” and which “present no risk” to public health. This openness is to be applauded and will hopefully prod the powers-that-be into taking the appropriate concerted action – backed up with resources from the Federal government.

Rather than being “named and shamed”, perhaps the local authorities and hoteliers would be more persuaded if a positive system of rewards could be introduced similar to the Blue Flag ‘awards’ in Europe. Crucially, a criterion obliges public health authorities there to inform the public promptly and issue warnings if “the beach… is expected to or has become grossly polluted or otherwise unsafe.”

It should be stressed here too, that tourists themselves have a responsibility to take their litter home with them. Last year, the Mexican Navy cleared 58,000 tonnes of solid waste discarded on Mexican beaches – a sea of rubbish by anyone’s estimation.

Acapulco: Breezed in yesterday on a 45 minute Mexicana flight from Mexico City. No April Fool’s, but tomorrow at the Tianguis Turistico we will be presented with a ‘Lente de Plata’ (Silver Lens) Award by President Vicente Fox in recognition of our role in “educating and encouraging travellers to visit Mexico.” We’re being put up at the Acapulco Princess (pictured), where Howard Hughes once lived in seclusion in a penthouse suite. It is rather grandiose and reminiscent of the Mayan pyramids we’ve been visiting in Yucatan over recent weeks. Oh, and as I’m writing this, Tourism Secretary Leticia Navarro Ochoa has popped in to the Media Centre to give all us gathered journalists a pat on the back. Very nice.