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.
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