President Andrés Manuel López Obrador met with Mexican business leaders on Wednesday, including Business Coordinating Council (CCE) president Francisco Cervantes and Grupo Carso owner Carlos Slim, to discuss the reactivation plan for Acapulco after Hurricane Otis devastated the area last month.
According to the initial phase of the reconstruction plan, at least four hotels will partially reopen by Dec. 15, Cervantes told reporters after the meeting.
He added that these weekly meetings with the Mexican government will continue with the goal of reopening tourism in Acapulco by December, and to host the Mexico 2024 Tourist Tianguis – a national tourism convention – in April 2024.
“The most pressing issue is how to reactivate the economy,” Cervantes said, adding that “the Tourist Tianguis is happening one way or the other.”
According to Cervantes, the private sector is doing an “excellent job” in working towards the recovery of Acapulco and mentioned that the Construction Chamber is now focusing on cleaning the area. Milenio newspaper reported on Thursday that Viva Aerobus plans to resume flights to Acapulco in December.
Cervantes also said the Council had created a task force to focus on healthcare provision in Acapulco, which will return to operation on Wednesday and will bring medical supplies including IVs, antibiotics, and paracetamol to the city. The goal is to prevent the spread of diseases like dengue fever.
Regarding reports of insecurity in Acapulco, Cervantes told reporters he expressed the CCE’s concern about it to the president, and was assured that 10,000 National Guard members have been deployed to the coastal city.
According to López Obrador, the ultimate goal is to have at least 35 to 40 hotels operating by March or April of next year. For that reason, the president has requested all hoteliers in Acapulco assist with the reactivation of the resort city.
“We are asking businessmen who have hotels in Acapulco to help us, and there has been a very good response,” he said Wednesday morning before the meeting.
With reports from Expansión, Milenio, and Sin Embargo
I saw a report today that Civil Protecion has declared the state of emergency to be over in Acapulco. I am in Acapulco and most people still do not have water to their homes, if they happen to be one of the lucky ones that still have a home. If they want water they are being charged 3000 pesos for a pipa, 10,000 litres. Before Otis, the price was 1000 pesos. Many people don’t have access to drinking water also. The state of emergency is definitely not over!
Life as usual for the regular Mexican people as I understand it. I lived there for twelve years and spent my days with the natives and have kept in touch after returning to California about fourteen years ago. My friends tell me that after COVID first appeared, they received very little help from the government, if any. Then years later about 3-400 pesos for a family of five. And everything kept going up in price. I must say that during Wilma, when I lived in el centro de Cancun, everything was quickly restored to normal and in a day or two, we had both gas and el. and the tel. service was also up and running. I was very impressed as in California it most likely would have taken longer than that. I actually had a limited insurance for disasters like this and eventually received some compensation for damages to my condo. Although the agent(s), a married couple, absolutely resented paying me because they felt I had not carried the insurance long enough to deserve it. They obviously were also resentful that I was an “estranera”, and to them probably another “rich” gringa. While that was not the case, they should have been more businesslike but I understood. I cannot see how Acapulco could possibly be back in business by April-March of next year. The most important thing is that the people be given the help they need. I hope that the President Lopez-Obrador will take care of the regular Mexican people first. I don’t even want to hear about new train service and airports until this horrible situation is under control. I don’t believe enough is being done in Acapulco which is a tragedy. The people are suffering and those who still have a home standing cannot afford water which apparently has tripled in price. I can hardly believe this to be true, but if it is, the government is more corrupt than ever and the President not fully in charge. It breaks your heart.
Not going to upgrade and pay just to read an article I can Google
Somewhere else.