How El Chapo Arrest Will Affect Mexican Economy; Tourism and Foreign Investment Expected to Increase Patricia Rey Mallen - IBTimes
go to original February 25, 2014

Workers sort the freshly printed afternoon daily PM, with the headline reading "El Chapo captured", at the newspaper's printing house in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY - The arrest of drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera, “El Chapo,” the most wanted criminal in the world, has set Mexico into a frenzy. The capture, the outcome of a joint operation of U.S. and Mexican forces, brought warnings of caution that the war on drugs is certainly not over. But it also gave President Enrique Peña Nieto cause to celebrate a win against organized crime and a welcome boost for his administration.

Indeed, the arrest marks an end to an era of criminal power in Mexico, and while it does not mean the end of the Sinaloa cartel, let alone drug trafficking in the country, it will lift Mexico’s image, said Tourism Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu.

“Just like any good news, this strengthens the vision that Mexico has a strong leadership in the president,” Ruiz said Monday at the opening of the XII National Tourism Forum in Mérida, Yucatan.

The ministry expects an investment of $1.4 billion in tourism in 2014 - $100 million more than last year. Tourism makes up 9 percent of the country’s GDP.

This positive view is a change from the latest United Nations report in 2013, in which Mexico dropped in the ranking of popular vacation destinations, from 10 to 13 out of 50 countries listed. Last year was the first in five that Mexico had fallen out of the top 10, due mainly to drug-related violent crime and the global economic slump.

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