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Special Reports
MEXICO:
Double Standards in
Treatment of
Hurricane Victims
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, (IPS) -
Most signs of the
damages caused by
Hurricane Wilma in
Mexico's Caribbean
resort of Cancún
will have been wiped
away before the
Christmas holidays.
But for those left
homeless by
Hurricane Stan in
the nearby
impoverished state
of Chiapas, recovery
is a distant goal.
"Tourism operators
in Cancún and the
people in the
poorest states are
clearly receiving
different
treatment," Noe
Pineda, spokesman
for the Fray
Bartolomé de las
Casas Human Rights
Centre, based in the
southern state of
Chiapas, told IPS.
President Vicente
Fox promised that 80
percent of Cancún's
tourism
infrastructure will
be operating again
by Dec. 15. To reach
that goal, the
president offered
hotel owners and
tourism operators
financial aid and
credit.
The so-called Mayan
Riviera on Mexico's
southeastern
Caribbean coast,
where Cancún,
Cozumel, Playa del
Carmen and other
world-famous tourist
resorts are located,
was hit between Oct.
21 and 23 by a
lingering Wilma,
which was briefly
the strongest
Atlantic storm on
record.
Hundreds of hotels
were hit by the
storm, a number of
beaches virtually
disappeared, and
thousands of tourism
workers lost
everything they
owned.
More than 11 million
tourists visit the
resorts along
Mexico's Yucatán
peninsula every
year, leaving behind
revenues of four
billion dollars,
more than one-third
of the industry's
total national
revenues. According
to the government,
for each day the
area is left without
tourists, Mexico
loses between 12 and
15 million dollars.
The Fox
administration
promised to help
Cancún and
neighbouring resort
areas to get back on
their feet as soon
as possible. Among
the measures to be
launched are a
global tourism
promotion campaign,
which will include a
major golf
tournament and
boxing match.
But in Chiapas,
things are looking
quite different in
terms of prospects
for recovery. In
that state, Mexico's
poorest, where
Hurricane Stan
devastated dozens of
poor, mainly
indigenous villages
in early October,
people make a living
growing coffee,
corn, beans and
other crops that
have a much smaller
weight in the
national economy.
"Here what we have
is poverty, and very
little tourism, so
this is not a high
priority area, which
is reflected by the
treatment it has
received from the
state," Pineda
complained.
While in Cancún, the
number of storm
refugees receiving
support in shelters
has diminished fast
as tourists head
home, there are some
80,000 people in
Chiapas still living
in shelters.
In addition, many
roads, railways and
bridges in Chiapas
are still out.
Storm refugees
interviewed by the
local press and the
Fray Bartolomé Human
Rights Centre in
several shelters say
they are sleeping on
cardboard and do not
have enough drinking
water or food.
The government
forgot about Chiapas
in its rush to help
Cancún, complained
Senator Arely Madrid
of the opposition
Institutional
Revolutionary Party
(PRI).
Fox denied the
allegation. Both
areas are being
assisted equally, he
said Thursday, when
he visited Cancún to
personally bid
farewell to foreign
tourists who were
assisted in the
shelters. He told
them not to forget
Mexico, and to
return soon.
According to Pineda,
"one of the clearest
signs that Cancún
and the tourist
services have been
giving privileged
treatment" was the
government's
announcement that it
would seek financial
support from the
World Bank and the
Inter-American
Development Bank for
that area.
"Some are offered
foreign money, but
for Chiapas, the
president has
already said that
the state
governments should
seek loans for
reconstruction on
their own," the
activist pointed
out.
The brunt of Stan's
fury was borne by
the state of Chiapas
and the western part
of neighbouring
Guatemala. Around 10
people were killed
in Chiapas, while
the death toll
reached 669 in
Guatemala, while
another 844 people
are still missing.
Most of the storm's
victims were poor
indigenous people.
The torrential
rains, flooding and
landslides caused by
the storm drowned or
buried hundreds of
people, and wiped
out roads, bridges,
power lines and
telephone services.
Economic losses are
estimated at one
billion dollars in
Guatemala and 1.8
billion in Chiapas.
In the case of
Cancún and the
surrounding area,
where Wilma claimed
seven lives,
insurance companies
have stated that
they will pay more
than two billion
dollars to the
owners of hotels and
other tourism
facilities.
"It is clear that in
Chiapas we will have
to wait for years to
overcome the blow
dealt by Stan, while
in Cancún,
reconstruction will
be fast, and
high-end tourism
will be back soon,"
said Pineda.
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