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Thrsay 208 aiy- h-Mic iga
E OR IDE
of paradise
Girls gone wild, sure. But there's more to today's top spring break destinations
than the brochure lets on.
By Kimberly ChouI Associate Arts Editor
Stay in groups. Don't go
out alone at night. Watch
your drink. Keeping out
of harm's way is relatively
easy if you follow basic
travelguidelines, although
things aren't always as sunny as the
trip advertisements may suggest.
"Whether you go to Cancun or
California, regardless of where you
go there's always a risk of some sort of
danger," said David Sanderson, STA
Travel advisor.
Aside from traditional worries
about getting caught up in bad compa-
ny, however, there's also trouble that
most party-seeking tourists usually
don't think of - and probably won't
come across in their lifetimes. This is
the crime and violence that full-time
residents of spring break "paradises"
must deal with: Child pornogra-
phy and social inequality in Cancun,
bloody turf wars in Acapulco, police
violence against HIV-positive citizens
in Jamaica (which only makes the
disease's epidemic there more heart-
breaking). Paradise, it seems, is in the
eye of thebeholder.
This isn't to say that you can't
throw yourself down the waterslide
at Carlos'n Charlie's, fully clothed,
without your conscience weighing you
down. (Even though the bartender
that served you makes less for a week's
work than you would make in a day on
U.S. minimum wage.) But you can be
more conscious of what's going on two
bus transfers away. To borrow from
cultural critic Slavoj Zidek, it's the
difference between thinking, "This
shouldn't happen here" about injus-
tices in America and "This shouldn't
happen anywhere."
TROUBLE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF
SHANGRI-LA
Cancun the resort is one thing,
but Cancun the city is another, wrote
Arizona Republic scribe Chris Haw-
ley in a 2006 piece called "Darkness
behind Cancun's beaches." After talk-
ing to hotel workers while covering a
presidential summit, Hawley stayed
to report further on the stark con-
trast between the poor residents and
the rich tourists they serye. Visitors
to Cancun drop more than $3 billion
a year on all-inclusive hotel packages
and guided scuba tours, account-
ing for one-third of Mexico's total
tourism revenue. But those who live
outside of what Hawley termed the
"Disney version of Mexico" - many
of whom work in the Hotel Zone's
luxury digs - struggle with pover-
ty, drugs, gangs and other criminal
activity, including a purported child
pornography ring. Hotel housekeep-
ers make barely 60 percent of what
McDonald's workers do in the hotel
districts, roughly $5 compared to
$8, though the McDonald's workers
don't fare much better considering
bus fare costs 65 cents. Workers live
in cinderblock homes called super-
blocks, one or two bus rides away
from the Hotel Zone..
according to a study by the Citizen
Institute for Studies about Insecu-
rity.
From the days the resort was popu-
lar with the likes of Frank Sinatra to
the invasion of Greek-system social-
ites, drug traffickers have peacefully
holidayed,in Acapulco with their fami-
lies. But incidents like a broad-day-
light shootout two years ago between
traffickers and police - four dead
traffickers and "an arsenal of guns
and grenades [were] left behind,"
reported the Union-Tribune - ended
the temporary cease-fire between two
major cartels. Journalists reporting on
alleged links between drug gangs and
officials have been targeted by their
subjects, according to a CNN report
that aired after Mexican radio and TV
correspondent Amado Ramirez was
Beaches, beer, sun
and human rights.
An alarming amount of the vio-
lence has been linked to persecution of
people assumed to be homosexual, sex
workers and people living with HIV/
AIDS. "Hated to Death: Homophobia,
Violence and Jamaica's HIV/AIDS
Epidemic," a Human Rights Watch
report, documents police extortion of
money and sex from gay men-and sex
workers. Some use the possession of
condoms on a "suspect" as an excuse
to harass him or her.
In recent years, Jamaica's Min-
istry of Health has tried to combat
discrimination against HIV-positive
Jamaicans, and those living at risk, but
the report says that the country's "Vic-
torian-era" sodomy and conduct laws
(punishing the convicted with up to 10
years of hard labor) are undermining
efforts.
WHAT HAPPENS IN CANCUN, STAYS
IN CANCUN
Knowing what's outside your hotel
block probably won't put a damper on
your fun, but it might make you a more
responsible traveler. Not responsible in
the sense of personal safety (although
you should still pack pepper spray),
but as a world citizen. It's impossible
to "totally get" a place no matter how
many beaches you lay on or themed
nightclubs you frequent, unless you
have at least a basic understanding of
its sociopolitical context.
But it's doubtful that move students
recognizing police brutality in Jamai-
ca will change the demand for tickets
to Negril.
Acapulco and Cancun are tradi-
tionally go-to destinations, Sanderson
said, and packages for Jamaica have
sold increasingly well in recent years.
Sun Splash also sells vacation deals for
Caribbean and Mexican locations like
Puerto Vallarta and the Bahamas, and
Panama City Beach in Florida.
The Sun Splash one-page brochures
list a lot of fine print about payment
options, but nothing about safety pre-
cautions, much less information about
human rights.
"Stuff like that's probably the last
thing on (tourists') minds," Sander-
son said. "Most people, unfortunately,
don't care."
Cancun city is also known for its
history of drug trafficking. In 2001,
federal agents arrested and charged
Mario Villanueva, ex-governor of Can-
cun's state Quintana Roo, with helping
traffickers move more than 200 tons
of cocaine through his state during
the 1990s. The U.S. is working on his
extradition.
Former Mexican President Vin-
cente Fox has said organized crime is
a serious problem in Cancun as well as
in another popular spring break desti-
nation, Acapulco.
BEACH BLANKET DRUG BATTLES
Rival gang battles for possession
of the drug corridor from the Pacific
coast of Mexico up to the U.S. bor-
der have reached such intensity that
it's changing Acapulco's beach-town.
image.
As reported in the San Diego
Union-Tribune in 2006, only four cit-
ies in Mexico have more overall crime
per 100,000 residents than Acapulco,
shot to death last year. He had covered
Acapulco for the past decade, and his
colleagues reported he had received
anonymous threats leading up to the
shooting. After the murder, Reporters
Without Borders bumped up Mexico
to the dubious ranking of second most-
dangerous place in the world for jour-
nalists.
FREEDOM DOESN'T COME CHEAP
As of the last Freedom House evalu-
ation in 2005, Jamaica was considered
a "free" country with relatively healthy
political and civil rights scores. Yet
crime, much of it related to the drug
trade, still runs rampant.
"Jamaica is a main transit point
for cocaine shipped from Columbia
to U.S. Markets, and the drug trade
is now largely controlled by Colum-
bian organized crime syndicates,"
Freedom House reported. The mur-
der rate is one of the highest in the
world, and violence is the major
cause of death.
LEFT: COURTESY OF JOSH POOLE,
MIDDLE:ZACHARY MEISNER/Daily, RIGHT: ANGELA CESERE/Daily