Fun in Acapulco?

ANDREW SACKETT FUN IN ACAPULCO? The Politics of Development on the Mexican Riviera I can think of no place on the face of the earth that can surpass Acapulco. I have heard world-travelers liken it to the Italian Riviera and one say reverently, ‘‘Heaven is only a suburb of Acapulco.’’ MEXICAN NATIONAL AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION, TRAVEL GUIDE FOR MEXICO, 1947 People without scruples who are trying to enrich themselves . are developing projects to throw us out from our community, from our plots, from the homes of our families, because we are poor. TELEGRAM FROM RUPERTO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARY OF THE COMISARIO EJIDAL DE SANTA CRUZ, ACAPULCO, TO PRESIDENT MIGUEL ALEMÁN, JUNE 24, 1947 he year 1947 marks a watershed in the history of Acapulco. As postwar Ttourism began to boom, the Mexican state became heavily involved in the town’s development. This development, which changed Acapulco from a dilapidated port town to a modern resort, could not have occurred without the intervention of the state. Throughout this process, the interests of hotel developers and tourists were paramount, and those of the people of Aca- pulco were secondary. This was not an accident—the state carefully planned and controlled the development of Acapulco. One of Mexico’s premier ar- chitects designed the urban plan; the state placed control over all aspects of urban development, from zoning to commerce on the beaches, in the hands of a federal agency called the Junta Federal de Mejoras Materiales de Aca- pulco (Acapulco Federal Board for Material Improvements, hereafter jfmm or Junta Federal), and the Agrarian Department, under orders from Presi- dent Miguel Alemán himself, expropriated the required land from ejidita- From Holiday in Mexico by Berger, Dina. DOI: 10.1215/9780822391265 Duke University Press, 2009. All rights reserved. Downloaded 23 Apr 2017 21:07 at 142.103.160.110 rios.∞ Meanwhile, every year more tourists came, drawn by travel guides, such as the one quoted in the first epigraph to this chapter, that attributed a certain international image to Acapulco. At the same time, the people dis- placed by the development often challenged the growth of the ‘‘Mexican Riviera.’’ This challenge to Acapulco’s growth took many forms. It was not as simple as merely rejecting tourism. Some people fought for their land, oth- ers to preserve their place in the tourism industry as better-funded competi- tion emerged, backed up by the power of the state. And some turned the challenges of growth to their own advantage. Take Commissioner Ruperto Rodríguez, whom I quote in the second epigraph, writing to the government to complain about the expropriation of the ejido he managed. It turned out that Santa Cruz was not expropriated for another twenty-five years. Mean- while, as migrants from rural Guerrero poured into Acapulco looking for work, Rodríguez, who remained commissioner through the 1950s, began selling land on the open market with the connivance (indeed, the active surveying services) of federal authorities, taking advantage of the burgeon- ing population brought to the city looking for work.≤ In this chapter I weave together these stories: the state-driven development of Acapulco into a tourist resort, and the human cost of that project, while arguing that it was the active role of the state that made the development possible. Understanding the history of tourism involves more than just analyzing and recounting the tourist experience. The development dis- placed local residents and forced changes in their behavior. I look at these changes, equally as important a part of the history of tourism as Acapulco’s growth as a resort. The history of Mexico’s most important, groundbreaking beach resort is impossible to reduce to the length of a chapter. Instead, I focus on certain episodes as these narratives develop, including the first expropriations of ejidal land, struggles over commercial activity on the beaches, and the changing geography of tourism and hotel location around Acapulco Bay. Historical Background Acapulco lies on the Pacific coast of Mexico, less than 500 kilometers directly south of Mexico City. It is located on a large, deep, crescent-shaped bay that is sheltered from the open ocean, making it an excellent natural harbor. Span- ish conquistadors founded the city in 1521, and it was the only port on the 162 ANDREW SACKETT From Holiday in Mexico by Berger, Dina. DOI: 10.1215/9780822391265 Duke University Press, 2009. All rights reserved. Downloaded 23 Apr 2017 21:07 at 142.103.160.110 Mexican Pacific coast open to maritime trade during the period of Spanish colonial rule, when galleons from the Philippine trade docked there.≥ After Mexican independence in 1821 and the end of the galleon trade, Acapulco sank into a long commercial decline. For the next hundred years, its only regular connection to Mexico City was by mule train. The coastal steamship system in the mid-nineteenth century provided the only regular contact with the outside world, as ships traveling up and down the coast stopped in Acapulco for coal and water.∂ Passengers on these ships bought fruit and souvenirs from the locals or went ashore for the day.∑ One observer commented that the only products worth purchasing were cigars and strings of seashells.∏ These were the only tourists. As the Mexican economy grew during the Porfiriato, Acapulco was over- shadowed as a Pacific port by places such as Manzanillo, connected by rail to Mexico City.π Attempts to build a railway connecting Acapulco with the capital in the late nineteenth century were never completed.∫ In fact, Acapul- queño commercial elites resisted the construction of better transportation networks, fearing an end to their monopoly over economic activities such as mule transport, the import-export trade, wholesale purchasing of agricul- tural goods from outside Acapulco, and manufacturing. The predominant commercial firms, Alzuyeta y Compañía and B. Fernández y Compañía, which owned the majority of the mule transport services and harbor barges, actively impeded the construction of a Mexico City–Acapulco road by, among other things, bribing engineers and technicians commissioned by the federal government to issue negative reports on the possibility of construction.Ω After the Mexican Revolution, Acapulco’s isolation came to an end. The socialists briefly took power in Acapulco in the early 1920s. With the support of President Alvaro Obregón, they prioritized the completion of the Mexico City–Acapulco highway, partly in an attempt to overcome the economic power of local elites. Although the socialist leader Juan Ranulfo Escudero was killed in 1923, the highway was completed four years later, in 1927.∞≠ The Beginnings of Tourism The early tourism marketing of Mexico did not feature Acapulco as a destina- tion. The railway companies did most of this marketing, and there was no value for them in promoting Acapulco, regardless of its natural attractions, since it was not connected to their rail networks.∞∞ Almost immediately following the completion of the Mexico City–Acapulco highway, however, FUN IN ACAPULCO? 163 From Holiday in Mexico by Berger, Dina. DOI: 10.1215/9780822391265 Duke University Press, 2009. All rights reserved. Downloaded 23 Apr 2017 21:07 at 142.103.160.110 both state and private writers thought differently about Acapulco. The city’s attractions did not immediately change after the road opened, but writers no longer described Acapulco as a decaying port. After 1927, travel writers portrayed Acapulco as the crowning experience of a new tourist route, one that passed from Mexico City through the colonial cities of Cuernavaca and Taxco (both established tourist destinations) and then through the moun- tains to Acapulco.∞≤ The new highway, dubbed the ‘‘Ruta de los Galeones’’ (Route of the Galleons) by the Comisión Nacional de Caminos (National Highway Commission), was part of a growing road network accessible from the Texas border.∞≥ The state expected these connections to ‘‘develop international tourism, from which Mexico expects an intense social interchange that will bring about a better understanding and closer relationship with its neigh- boring countries.’’∞∂ Travel writers as well as government literature soon began to recommend drives to Acapulco as part of a Mexican vacation.∞∑ By the early 1930s, Acapulco was a popular tourist resort for both Ameri- cans and Mexicans. More than 10,000 tourists came to the city in peak periods such as Christmas and especially Semana Santa (Holy Week), far outnumbering the town’s population.∞∏ Nearly all camped on the beaches or in their cars, and those unable to afford their own cars took the regular bus service from Mexico City.∞π Acapulco’s natural beauty was its main attrac- tion. There were limited services, and the town’s tourism infrastructure was undeveloped. There were only four small hotels in 1933, though investors planned a large, modern hotel. Visitors generally spent their time at the beach, deep-sea fishing, or simply admiring the ‘‘unparalleled view of the Pacific.’’∞∫ One guidebook claimed that ‘‘some one in a burst of enthusiasm said that Acapulco is a place of blue waters, white sand, green fish, and red parrots. Probably all this is true but there is more to the story than that. It is hot, moist and dirty, and yet there is a charm in the harbor and the fringe that surrounds it.’’∞Ω Not only private writers were waxing poetic about Acapulco. By 1940 Acapulco, formally a seaport in name only, had been redefined as a tropical seaside resort by the producers of state tourism materials. This description from a Petróleos Mexicanos (pemex, the national oil company) travel guide for American motorists in Mexico encapsulates the modern Acapulco: Acapulco, at the end of the same highway which leads to Taxco, is a Pacific Coast seaport on the edge of a dramatically beautiful sheltered bay.

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