Going loco, down in Acapulco
Earlier this year, I watched a BBC documentary in which presenter Reggie Yates followed the Mexican Army patrolling in Acapulco. The programme highlighted how the resort had gone from a Hollywood hangout to Mexico’s deadliest city, the world’s fourth most dangerous, in the space of a couple of decades.
The bloodshed in Acapulco became headline news in the early 2000s when the local cartel, the Beltrán Leyva, were unsettled by the infamous Zetas. A state crackdown restored a veneer of calm but the violence resurfaced in 2008, when Beltrán Leyva, again in control, and the Sinaloa cartel, of ‘El Chapo’ fame, fell out after a longstanding alliance. With the death of Arturo Beltrán Leyva in 2009, his cartel splintered and another turf war ensued, with the violence peaking in 2012. The city is now overseen by three cartels, one backed by the powerful and brutal Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
There is, therefore, no doubting that Acapulco is a dangerous place, particularly for local residents and businesses caught up in the crossfire and the inevitable extortion. But the Western media has to be careful of jumping on the ‘world’s most violent city’ bandwagon. First it was San Pedro Sula in Honduras, then San Salvador in El Salvador; now it is Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. These Latin American cities are tarnished as no-go areas, particularly damaging for those who rely on tourism.
It was laughable, but worrying, to watch Reggie Yates donned in a bullet proof vest and helmet walking up and down one of Acapulco’s main beaches, full of swimming-short and bikini clad tourists. I fully understand the army and police wearing body armour, this can be a dangerous country to be in law enforcement. But a journalist on a busy beach with body armour is not exactly subtle, or productive. As Yates tried to interview holidaymakers, you could almost hear them thinking ‘crazy gringo’.
Typically, this was probably a publicity stunt gone wrong (who is running Mexico’s foreign PR team?). Mexico’s government invites the BBC to Acapulco to show the world that it is cleaning up the troubles and making the city safe again so Europeans should return. But the BBC want to make an exciting current affairs programme targeting its younger BBC3 audience and end up portraying Acapulco as being under siege, something more akin to what we are sadly seeing in Syria and Iraq, with Yates walking around like a war correspondent. Separately, a Daily Mail headline tells us that holidaymakers arm themselves when heading to Acapulco’s beaches: an attractive tag line which forgets that many Americans arm themselves when they leave their houses!
I’m not naïve - Acapulco has a dark, dark side (which invariably impacts upon the city’s poorest), and of course there is increased risk with the bloodshed occasionally reaching the beaches. But it does not mean you cannot visit the city and, if you do, you should be more worried about sunburn, appalling driving and pickpockets than cross fire and kidnaps. Tourists are not the targets and as businesses, the cartels undoubtedly profit from packed-out hotels, restaurants and beaches.
I have just come back from Acapulco and I did not pack a bullet proof vest or handgun. Being only 5-hours from Mexico City, my recommendation is that it is a great getaway from the stifling capital. Yes, it is reassuring that there is a police and army presence, but I visited the centre, saw the famous cliff-divers and sunbathed on a beach, and I can report that Acapulco is not a war zone.
Sadly, though, local industry is suffering as tourists, particularly international jetsetters, are put off and going elsewhere. The average hotel occupancy rate for 2016 was down to 40%. An employee at the hotel I stayed told me that they had had to drop prices to attract locals, and if the trend continues, they fear that job losses will follow. A vendor on one of the beaches understood that the presence of the army helped reassure people, but thought it was more damaging than good as most people’s idea of paradise does not include a soldier on the beach.
I appreciate it is easy for me to play down the danger tag, staying in a nice hotel and confining my movements to the tourist hotspots. Let’s not forget that of the thousands of homicides, I am guessing that the vast majority come from lower socio-economic groups, people who live on the other side of the beach strip. For this reason, the tourists need to keep coming, driving the economy and keeping people in legal forms of business.
