Wouldn’t you think mayors and tourism secretaries in a famous destination resort would be good with words? Isn’t part of their job to issue public statements without arousing public fury? Without coming off as heartless profiteers?
Before dawn on February 4, an armed gang of masked men invaded a rented villa in Acapulco, Mexico, and attacked the Spanish tourists staying there. They tied up seven men, raped six of the seven women there, and stole cash, laptop computers, and cell phones.
The woman who wasn’t raped made an appeal to the criminals’ chauvinism. She pointed out that she was Mexican, not Spanish. “She… asked not to be raped, and they told her that she had passed the test by being Mexican and they didn’t touch her,” said Martha Garzon, attorney general for the state of Guerrero. I don’t think anyone would say she should have allowed herself to be raped in solidarity with her friends. Yet they may be former friends.
After the crime was discovered, Acapulco mayor Luis Walton Aburto said “What happened to the women is unfortunate, and we recognize that it affects our city’s image.” And “this happens everywhere in the world, not just Mexico or Acapulco.”
Two days later he was sorry. “I apologize for having said that. Of course this worries us and we don’t want anything like this to happen in Acapulco or anywhere else in the world.” He was clear about his thinking: “We know this is going to affect our tourism.”
Condesa Beach, Acapulco
Officials in other parts of Mexico were quick to say that nobody goes to Acapulco any more, and their regions are utterly safe. Juan Carlos Gonzalez, tourism secretary of the nearby state of Quintana Roo, home of peaceable Cancún, supportively said,“We are definitely not as contaminated with the crime issue as other states in Mexico.”
In a compassionate outburst, he added, “We are really sorry about what happened with the Spanish tourists, because… it is something that affects Mexico’s image.”
No. Did he really say that? Was it a bad translation? He said, “Lamentamos mucho lo que sucedió con las turistas españolas… porque es algo que de alguna manera u otra afecta la imagen de México.” That translates to: “We regret what happened with Spanish tourists … because it is something that in some way or another affects the image of Mexico.” Yup, he said that.
On February 11 it was announced that the police had arrested five suspects, and that one of the tourists had bought drugs from some of them in the days before the attack.
Maybe. People thinking of visiting Acapulco might be reassured to think the bad people have been arrested. Though the fact that the brother of one of the suspects says he was severely beaten by the police to make him confess undercuts that sense of reassurance.
The story about the drugs may or may not be true, but, conveniently, gives potential visitors a chance to say “That couldn’t happen to me, because I wouldn’t buy drugs.” Or “I will be craftier when I buy drugs.”
Should lousy apologies contribute to my suspicions about the accuracy of the arrest? They do, because they make it so clear that public image is the number one thing on these officials’ minds.
Strangely, when you think too much about how you look, it makes you look bad.
