July 19, 2005
Cancun Escapes the Brunt of Hurricane Emily
Press Release from the Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau
Cancun Escapes the Brunt of Hurricane Emily
Monday July 18, 7:06 pm ET
Up and Running and Ready to Receive National and International Tourists
CANCUN, Mexico--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 2005--Statement by Artemio Santos Santos, executive director of the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB):
"Packed with 145-mph winds, hurricane Emily swept over the southern coast of the State of Quintana Roo, at least 80 miles away from Cancun Hotel Zone, during the early morning of Monday, July 18. Thankfully damage to the city of Cancun, the most important tourist destination in Mexico and Latin America, was minimal and included mostly downed tree branches, signs, posts and power lines.
In a joint effort with local authorities, the tourism industry began hurricane preparations and the evacuation process in the hotel zone as early Friday, July 15. Tourists who braved the hurricane in Cancun were moved to comfortable shelters located throughout the hotel zone and main downtown area. All of them will be returning to their hotels throughout the day in order to continue enjoying their vacation or will depart as scheduled. In fact, local weather forecasts are predicting plenty of sunshine as of tomorrow.
The Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau has confirmed that tourism infrastructure and services, such as electricity, water, communications and local transportation are operating normally in Cancun. Hotels have also reported minimal property damage.
After massive departures on Saturday and Sunday, Cancun International Airport closed yesterday afternoon as security precaution. The airport began regular operations as of noon today. Tourists are encouraged to check in with their individual airlines or agents, however, we have been informed that all flights have resumed as scheduled.
Cancun and all its service providers are ready to serve national and international tourists. In fact, tomorrow we are welcoming the Association of Mexican Customs Agents Convention, which will bring 1000 members.
We look forward to a strong summer season in Cancun, the heart of the Mexican Caribbean."
To secure further commentary or information, please contact Lourdes de la Torriente (contact info above). For further updates and current photos of Cancun, please visit http://www.cancun.info.
Contact:
de la Group PR, Miami
Lourdes de la Torriente, 305-663-8334
lourdes@delagroup.com
Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau
Patricia Lopez Mancera, +011 52 (998) 881-2758
plmancera@cancunovc.com
July 16, 2005
Emily decreases to category four; Cancun Hotel Zone evacuation begins Sunday morning
[Updated at 8:33 a.m.] CANCUN, July 17--The government of the state of Quintana Roo announced that Emily was expected to hit south of Playa del Carmen around 7 p.m EDT Sunday if it maintains its current trajectory. Torrential rains and 95 mph winds will prevail throughout the alert area beginning around 3 p.m. EDT Sunday. They now rate the storm as category four.
Unofficial reports claimed last night that the path was shifting toward landfall between Tulum and Boca Paila, even further south, which would leave Cancun on the outer edge of the hurricane. The five-day National Hurricane Center forecast map above shows the center of the hurricane passing south of Cancun near Playa del Carmen. If the trend continues, Cancun may escape a direct hit, but it's not anything we can count on.
Many hotels on Cancun Island transfered their guests to the mainland yesterday. Today's newspapers report that the full evacuation of the Hotel Zone will begin at 6 a.m. The government is evacuating a one kilometer strip of Caribbean coast all along the Yucatan peninsula. Holbox and Contoy islands (north of Cancun), Isla Mujeres (in front of Cancun) and Puerto Morelos (32 km. south) have already been evacuated.
I live on an island in the lagoon formed by the main island of Cancun Hotel Zone, and will make the decision whether to stay or leave some time today. Most of my neighbors are staying. Unless the storm shifts toward the north, Cancun will receive some very severe weather, but should escape major damage. The operative word here is "should" (as in whistling hopefully).
During Gilbert, the category five hurricane that hit Cancun directly in September, 1988, the Hotel Zone was evacuated, but at least one hotel, the Sheraton remained in operation throughout the storm. Some sections of the island of Cancun were flooded, but all hotels and other buildings remained intact, although some sustained moderate to severe damages. No tourist casualties were reported. Since then, there have been several hurricane alerts, but Cancun was spared when their paths changed direction.
Further information in English direct from the Cancun Hotel Zone will be posted here as the situation evolves.
See CafeCancun.com for the latest updates.
July 13, 2005
Did the London Bombings Increase Support for the Iraq War?
July 13, 2005 Public Opinion Watch Ruy Teixeira
[Excerpt]
Did the London bombings increase support for the Iraq war, as many speculated it might? In a word, no. Here are the results of the latest Gallup poll, showing no increase—in fact, a general decrease—in support for the Iraq war and Bush’s foreign policy after the bombings.
1. In the Gallup poll prior to the July 7 bombings, 46 percent said it was worth going to war in Iraq and 52 percent said it was not. In the new poll, conducted July 7–10, 44 percent say it was worth going to war, compared to 53 percent who say it wasn’t.
2. In the pre-bombings Gallup poll, 44 percent said the war in Iraq has made the United States safer from terrorism, while 39 percent said it has made us less safe. In the new poll, those figures have changed dramatically: 54 percent now say the war in Iraq has made us less safe, compared to just 40 percent who say it has made us safer. Most of this change appears to be attributable to people switching from the view that the war in Iraq has had no effect on the safety of the United States to the view that the war has made us less safe.
In light of what just happened, one can see why these fence-sitters switched.
3. In the new poll, 52 percent say the war with Iraq has made the world less safe from terrorism, compared to 40 percent who say it’s made the world safer (question not asked in pre-bombings Gallup poll, so no recent comparison available).
4. As for who’s winning the war against terrorism, the view that the United States and its allies are winning declined to 34 percent in the new poll, down two points from before the bombings, while the view that neither side is winning is up three points to 44 percent and the view the terrorists are winning is up a point to 21 percent.
5. Finally, those expressing a great deal of confidence in the Bush administration to protect U.S. citizens from future acts of terrorism is unchanged at 23 percent from before the bombings. That 23 percent figure, however, is down from 38 percent in early February.
In short, it looks like the London bombings have simply deepened the political trouble the Bush administration faces from its Iraq policy and its increasingly vexed relationship to the overall war on terror.
Ruy Teixeira is a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation and a Fellow at The Center for American Progress.
This and other publications can be found at The Century Foundation Web site.
July 02, 2005
Karl Rove mystery arrest solved
For the record, the Karl Rove picture is from "Frog Walk" Diary of June 14, 2005 by Dood Abides on dKOS. [pops] Dood's homepage [pops] has a bunch of other great satirical images. Here's a sample:
