The beach umbrellas are ready for more growth in tourism.
A record 41.4 million international tourists came to Mexico last year, 5.5% more than in 2017, and they spent more while they were in the country.
The Secretariat of Tourism (Sectur) said in a statement that 41,447,000 foreign tourists visited Mexico in 2018 compared to 39.3 million the year before.
The tourists spent just over US $20.3 billion while here, 6% more than in 2017. Each international tourist spent on average US $490 in the country.
The top 10 source countries for tourists who arrived by air were the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Germany, France and Peru.
Once daytrippers from the three countries with which Mexico shares a border are added, a total of just under 96.8 million foreign visitors entered the country last year.
That figure represents a 2.6% decline on total visitor numbers in 2017, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
The 55.3 million daytrippers spent just under US $2.2 billion or an average of $39 each, taking total tourism expenditure to just over $22.5 billion, 5.5% more than 2017.
For this year, Sectur predicts that international numbers could hit 43.6 million, which would represent a 5.2% increase on last year’s figures. Total tourism expenditure is forecast to reach jut under US $23.7 billion, which would also be 5.2% higher than in 2018.
Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco Marqués described the outlook in both areas as positive.
Earlier this month, Torruco said that the government is aiming to increase expenditure by tourists in Mexico by focusing more on attracting big spenders.
Among the nationalities that spend the most while visiting Mexico, the Japanese were in first place, spending an average of $2,008, not including airfare.
However, in terms of visitor numbers, Japan was only in 17th place with 140,363 visitors.
Sailboats at Zihuatanejo for this year's Sailfest.
Once a sleepy fishing village, Zihuatanejo is nestled in a sheltered bay off the coast of Guerrero, a few hours north of Acapulco, and home to what has become one of the premier fundraising events of the sailing world.
Sailfest began in 2002, the result of a chance meeting between longtime expats Richard and Gloria Bellack and a sailboat named Latitude 38 (of sailing magazine fame).
The Bellacks, who were already involved with a local indigenous school called Escuela Primaria Netzahualcoyotl, were more than happy to accept the boatload of supplies the sailors had brought with them.
Word soon spread, and a few dozen other cruisers decided to join in a weekend of boat races, raffles and fun to raise money for indigenous children. The makeshift fundraiser with the help of other expats and locals raised US $1,500 in its inaugural year, which was then matched by the Bellack Foundation.
Fast forward 17 years and Sailfest has expanded to a week-long festival through the combined efforts of sailors, expats, locals and various organizations such as Rotary, Niños Adelante, Por Los Niños and the city of Zihuatanejo itself.
Sailfest’s meet and greet party.
In 2017, the organization raised over 1 million pesos through a variety of events, including silent and live auctions, raffles, chili cook-offs, concerts and donations from local merchants, restaurants and hotels.
The festivities include an opportunity to “crew” on a participating sailboat for a donation, with all proceeds going to the charity. Local musicians donate their time and perform while guests sail in and around the bay of Zihuatanejo and to Ixtapa.
Cruisers come from as far away as England, France, Canada and the U.S. for this annual event. In its best year, 2005, Zihuatanejo had an estimated 90 boats in its harbour. Although that number has reduced some (perhaps in part due to the economy) to around 35 in 2017, enthusiasm for the event has not.
The slack in sailor participation has in fact been picked up through the efforts of the many expats in the community who call Zihuatanejo home during the winter months, and the locals themselves.
Most welcome and new to Sailfest this year is the involvement of new Mayor Jorge Sánchez Allec and city officials. For the first time in the history of Sailfest, the city has shown tremendous support by providing people, money and pageantry in the form of local talent and donated food, and by buying tickets to attend events themselves.
It is believed by many to be an excellent way to encourage locals to participate in the many fun events held each year.
Festival co-founders Gloria and Richard Bellack.
Over the years, monies raised have helped thousands of children in Zihuatanejo with scholarships and tuition, uniforms, school supplies, shoes and nourishment (more than 35,000 meals a year) through a program called Carols’ Rice.
Sailfest donations are responsible for building 110 classrooms and Zihuatanejo’s first high school in over 20 years. Last year was considered a banner year with 2 million pesos raised but Carol Romain, chairman of the Sailfest committee and administrator of Por Los Niños, reports that 2019 beat that figure with 2.1 million.
Like many other expats and tourists, I have personally sponsored a child through the Por Los Niños program almost from its inception in 2005. Aldrich, who is now 22 and graduating this year, has held a grade point overage of over eight out of 10, a prerequisite for children in the program who wish to be sponsored from grade school through to university.
How to get involved?
• Sail your boat to beautiful Zihuatanejo and become part of an exciting festival each February. If you can’t do that, fly down and join in the fun and support a great cause at the same time.
A Guerrero mining group is forecasting that its operations and the new investment it attracts will generate a 2-billion-peso spillover for the state’s economy this year, a 300% increase on its first year of operations in 2017.
Alfredo Phillips, president of the Clúster Minero de Guerrero (CMG) – a group made up of eight companies – said that the predicted 2-billion-peso (US $103.6-million) injection into businesses in the state will represent growth of 66% on last year’s figures.
Despite security concerns and uncertainty surrounding possible changes to the federal Mining Law, Phillips said that several companies are interested in collaborating with the CMG on a range of new projects in Guerrero.
One set to be undertaken by Energéticos Nieto is the construction of a facility in Iguala with the capacity to store more than 15 million liters of diesel.
Phillips said that Canadian company Leagold Mining sees potential for a new project in the state while Media Luna, a subsidiary of Canada’s Torex Gold Resources, will invest US $600 million on a second Guerrero project.
Torreón-based Minera Capela is starting a project in the municipality of Teloloapan and the Campo Morado project in Arcelia, operated by Canada’s Telson Mining Corporation, continues to forge ahead, he added.
Meanwhile Canadian company Alio Gold is waiting for the right market conditions in order to enter the state.
“Insecurity will always be an issue, you find these situations everywhere, not just in Mexico, but I believe that the environment has improved because, with the collaboration of state and municipal governments as well as federal authorities, we’ve managed to . . . improve conditions,” Phillips said.
He added that communities in the state now have a better understanding of the benefits that the mining sector can bring them.
“The Clúster Minero de Guerrero started two years ago . . . and in the first year we had an economic spillover in the state . . . of 550 million pesos. Last year, [it was] 1.2 billion pesos . . . and this the goal is to have a spillover of at least 2 billion pesos on mining value chains in the state,” Phillips said.
Guerrero is Mexico’s third largest gold producer behind Sonora and Chihuahua, while mining in the state generates 8,000 direct jobs and 40,000 indirect ones.
Pipeline under construction: some have been halted by local opposition.
Private energy companies yesterday rejected President López Obrador’s claim that contracts they were awarded by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to build gas pipelines were one-sided and unfair.
A total of six contracts were awarded to IEnova, TransCanada and Grupo Carso during previous governments for the construction of seven gas pipelines for which the CFE is to pay the companies 16 billion pesos (US $831.2 million) this year even though the projects are incomplete.
Speaking at his morning press conference, López Obrador charged that “juicy business has been done under the protection of public power, unfair contracts favoring private companies have been signed.”
He also took aim at the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), asserting that it played a role in awarding contracts to private companies and thus contributed to the “privatization” of the national energy sector.
The CRE later rejected the claim, stating that while it approved the CFE’s tendering processes, it didn’t participate in them in any way.
Work on the pipelines has been delayed for between two and five years due to opposition from several communities through which they are to run.
The CFE has already paid the companies more than 60 billion pesos (US $3.1 billion at today’s exchange rate) for the construction of the pipelines, which are intended to supply natural gas to electrical generation plants.
CFE chief Manuel Bartlett said that if the government is forced to continue paying out billions of pesos under the terms of the current agreements, the state-owned electric utility will go bankrupt.
He also threatened to sue the companies if they refused to show flexibility in agreeing to new terms.
Later in the day, the three companies all said separately that the contracts they signed are both legal and transparent and that social conflicts and/or legal challenges are responsible for the delays.
TransCanada said it cannot complete pipelines it was contracted to build in Hidalgo because communities are opposed to the work while Grupo Carso, owned by Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim, cited the same reason for delays to its projects in the north of the country.
IEnova said in a statement to the Mexican Stock Exchange that one of its pipelines began operations in 2017 but “sabotage” interrupted supply to the CFE.
Shares in all three companies fell following the remarks made by López Obrador and Bartlett, with IEnova suffering a 4.72% loss while TransCanada and Grupo Carso stock dropped 1.03% and 0.46% respectively.
Amín Vera, director of economic analysis at investment consultancy Black Wall Street Capital, said that “confidence in Mexico is being systematically degraded” by the government.
At yesterday’s press conference, Bartlett also named nine former public officials, including ex-president Felipe Calderón, who he said awarded energy contracts to private companies at which they would later work.
Yesterday's ceremony marking the beginning of construction of a new pier in Zihuatanejo.
A new pier will grace the shore of Zihuatanejo, the popular beach destination in the state of Guerrero.
Governor Héctor Astudillo Flores presided over a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday to begin work on the project, announcing that the state government will support the construction through an investment of 100 million pesos (US $5 million).
Measuring 80 meters long by nine meters wide the new pier will be built on 162 pilings and will include seven docking slips for ships and five for smaller boats and solar-powered lighting.
A provisional pier will be prepared for use until the project is completed.
The governor said all of the state’s tourist destinations were a priority for his administration. He said that the state hopes the new pier would allow Zihuatanejo to become an important stop for cruise ships, as well as provide a boost for marine activity and the tourist economy.
Astudillo also pledged an additional 20 million pesos for the completion of the Paseo del Pescador, a seaside promenade featuring outdoor eateries and stores.
Speaking before an audience that included fishermen, tourism representatives, business people and residents, the governor said he expected that project to be completed by April in time for the 2019 edition of the Tianguis Turístico tourism fair in Acapulco.
Zihuatanejo Mayor Jorge Sánchez Allec thanked the governor for his support and emphasized the importance of the project.
“It is significant that we are starting the year off with the beginning of the pier’s construction, given its importance and the development opportunity that it will represent for those in the tourism and fishing industries . . . . Once completed, I know that we will once again have cruise ships in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.”
Piggy banks for public servants so they can save: AMLO.
President López Obrador is proposing to extend the limit of a ban on government officials joining the private sector to carry on working in the same field.
The waiting period is currently one year; the president suggests it be an entire decade.
The president said he believed that joining the private sector soon after leaving government was not only illegal but immoral and said that not even in the United States, where there is more interaction between the private and public sectors, are there cases as blatant as those that happened during “the neoliberal period,” as López Obrador likes to describe previous administrations.
In response to claims by some former public servants that their livelihoods depend on joining private companies, the president was adamant in asserting that there are other options and other opportunities, including high-paying jobs in the public service, which would give them the opportunity to continue saving money.
” . . . Some have master’s or doctor’s degrees, there are ways they can continue working and saving,” said López Obrador, adding that public servants will be given “a piggy bank” so they can start saving “right now.”
“I don’t care if they get angry or disagree, I am not taking a single step backwards in fighting corruption, impunity and pretense,” he said.
A C5 command center: they'll be watching banks soon.
The Mexico City government will connect surveillance cameras in banks to the C5 security system to combat robberies targeting customers.
Following an investigation by the newspaper Milenio that identified nine neighborhoods in the capital where bank customers are most at risk of being mugged after withdrawing money, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the city had already been working on a security plan.
“We’re working on being able to connect bank cameras to the C5. Linking the systems would be historical, and we’re working to make it a reality.”
She added that the administration is working with the Mexican Banking Association to boost the security in place in financial institutions in order to incorporate them into the system little by little. She said the first district to be connected to the C5 will be Azcapotzalco.
According to Milenio, the high-risk neighborhoods are Colonia Del Valle, Roma Norte, Lomas de Chapultepec, Narvarte, Anáhuac, Hipódromo (Condesa), Polanco, the historic center and Lindavista in the Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juárez and Cuauhtémoc boroughs.
Police chief Jesús Orta Martínez said in an interview that he was investigating possible cases of collusion between bank employees and criminals working together to rob account holders.
“. . . we are giving special focus to investigating the participation of bank employees who are presumably or probably contributing to this type of incident.”
He added that charges had already been brought against several members of bank security staff for extortion and corruption, though he did not specify the number of cases.
The chief said the banking association was sharing information and videos relevant to the attacks outside banks and ATMs, some of which have been violent.
He implored victims to report and denounce criminal acts, saying it was the only way forward to begin to win back citizens’ trust in authorities.
The mayor stated that in addition to the new security measures, the government will further increase police patrols.
Mexico City and federal authorities are investigating the origin and veracity of a video in which purported members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) warn criminals in a northern borough of the capital that they are going after them.
Five men dressed in military attire — two of whom are wearing CJNG caps — and brandishing high-caliber weapons appear in the video, which was filmed inside a vehicle and began circulating on social media Sunday.
“This is a message for all of the people in the Gustavo A. Madero borough,” one of the men says before explaining that it is specifically directed at residents of certain neighborhoods.
“In all of these places, people who are caught stealing, kidnapping children, doing pendejadas [stupid shit] . . . This is the first and last time I’m going to tell you, I’m going to kill the whole family of any bastard who’s caught, do you understand?” he continues.
“We’re the people who are working here and this is where we’re going to be. We’re going to take care of the people. This is the first and last time I’m sending this message. Yours sincerely, El Canguro [the Kangaroo], La Vaquita [the Little Cow] and all of the team who is working here . . . Spread the word . . .” the man says.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum told a press conference yesterday the Secretariat of Citizens’ Security has been in contact with the federal government since becoming aware of the video, and together are conducting an investigation to determine its origin and veracity.
Security Secretary Jesús Orta Martínez told reporters that Federal Police and the military are patrolling Gustavo A. Madero to guarantee security in the borough and provide peace of mind for residents.
He also said that Mexico City authorities have doubts that the men really belong to the CJNG, considered Mexico’s most powerful and dangerous criminal organization, explaining that only local criminal gangs have been detected in the borough.
“It’s said that the video is of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel but we first need to check if the authorship is legitimate. Secondly, [we need to check] if the people who identify themselves have links to that cartel. The federal government will do that because in our case, we don’t identify them as such. Thirdly, we’re investigating what kind of people this message is aimed at,” Orta said.
Gustavo A. Madero, the northernmost of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs, is home to four of the capital’s 10 most crime-ridden neighborhoods, according to data from the Attorney General’s office (PGJ).
There were 22,668 reported crimes in the borough last year, of which many were acts of robbery, extortion and domestic violence.
The number of intentional homicides and drug trafficking offenses in the neighborhoods mentioned in the video have both spiked since November, the newspaper El Universal reported.
Some of the Mexicans cleaned at hotels in Barrie, Ontario.
Forty-three Mexican workers, most of them men, were rescued by police in Canada from what was described as “modern-day slavery” conditions.
The workers, aged between 20 and 46, had gone to Canada “under the pretense” of being there for educational purposes or the promise of work visas and eventually permanent residency status.
Instead, they were forced to work at cleaners at hotels in central and eastern Ontario.
The workers were kept in what the Ontario Provincial Police described as “squalid” conditions in Barrie and Wasaga Beach, and were transported by their handlers to and from hotels and vacation properties.
Police alleged that the captors controlled the pay made by the workers, who had initially paid their traffickers large amounts of money to leave Mexico and were then charged fees for transportation and lodging. In some cases the workers were left with less than CAD $50 a month.
Their rescue last Tuesday followed the filing of several reports before police last year regarding the operations of a Barrie-based cleaning company run by two people.
The reports indicated that the company was engaged in human trafficking and defrauding its workers.
Upon their release, one victim told investigators: “Last night, I went to bed a slave. This morning, I woke up a free man.”
In the intervening week, all the workers have been given legal immigration status and all have been offered work and accommodations at a Barrie-area resort.
“Whether it involves forced labor or the sex trade, the trafficking of humans is unacceptable. It has no place in our communities and will not be tolerated,” said Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood.
The investigation into the human trafficking and exploitation ring continues with background checks of the two people who ran the cleaning company. Criminal charges may be announced at a later date and police said they are looking for other suspects.
After six days of deliberations, the jury has found Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, former leader of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, guilty of drug trafficking.
The unanimous verdict was announced today, bringing to an end a three-month trial in which Guzmán’s defense team unsuccessfully attempted to persuade jurors that their client’s role in the cartel was exaggerated by witnesses for the prosecution who were seeking leniency in their own cases.
Held in New York, the trial heard tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, high living and a massive drug-smuggling operation that moved at least 180 tonnes of cocaine into the United States, along with heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana.
Fifty-six witnesses and hundreds of pieces of evidence — including a diamond-encrusted hand gun belonging to Guzmán — were presented by the prosecution to demonstrate that the former drug lord was indeed directly responsible for smuggling drugs, bribing officials, laundering money and murdering those who stood in his way.
The prosecution described the Sinaloa Cartel as “the world’s largest and most prolific drug trafficking organization.”
The defense, whose case lasted only half an hour, argued that Guzmán was made a scapegoat. The jury was asked to dismiss the testimony of the government’s witnesses, describing them as liars out to save themselves by making deals with authorities.
That reliance on cooperating witnesses “laid bare the corruption of the criminal justice system where freedom is traded by the government in exchange for testimony,” charged A. Eduardo Balarezo, one of Guzmán’s lawyers.
A former U.S. attorney found the case demonstrated a remarkable degree of penetration into the cartel’s activities. John Horn also said the conviction carries a deep meaning.
“There does need to be a conviction of somebody like Chapo Guzmán, both for the symbolism and the pure factor of justice being served,” Horn, who is now in private practice, said in an interview before the verdict.
“It does show that . . . for somebody at his level, justice will be done, it will be served. It’s an incredibly powerful victory . . . for law enforcement.”
As the verdict was delivered at 12:30 today, Guzmán appeared horrified, reported the newspaper Reforma.
His wife’s eyes filled with tears on hearing the decision but Emma Coronel, who has been in the courtroom during most of the trial, gave her husband an optimistic thumbs up as he turned to look at her.
Guzmán, 61, was extradited to the U.S. in January 2017 after his capture in Sinaloa nearly a year earlier. His arrest came six months after a spectacular escape through a 1.5-kilometer tunnel under the Altiplano federal prison in México state.
