The guy carrying the television doesn't look very hungry to me.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/ ... 6970.shtml



It's Cops Vs. Looters In Cancun

CANCUN, Mexico, Oct. 24, 2005
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(CBS/AP) Troops and federal police moved in Monday to control looting at stores and shopping centers ripped open by Hurricane Wilma. Hunger and frustration erupted among Mexicans and stranded tourists in this weather-ravaged Caribbean resort as the storm barreled through South Florida.

President Vicente Fox said Monday that it would take two months to restore "80 to 90 percent of the touristic capacity of Cancun," the biggest economic engine of one of Mexico's crucial tourism industry.

In an interview from Cancun with the Televisa television network, Fox also said it would take until Monday next week to restore "a good part" of the city's largely destroyed power service.

As reporters watched Sunday, hundreds emptied entire downtown blocks of merchandise, hiding when soldiers appeared, then returning to rip open metal store shutters and haul away clothing, appliances and anything else they could find.

Police shot in the air to scare away looters, and some crowds responded by throwing rocks and chucks of concrete.

"As soon as the hurricane arrived, the people went robbing," said Eva Bernabe. "It's sad because Cancun is a relaxed place. We're good people. It's not like this normally."

On Monday, the waist-deep floodwaters had largely receded from the streets dotted with shattered and twisted buildings, but most in Cancun were still without electricity.

Looting seemed to have abated as police were seen breaking up gatherings of people in the streets. But many stores were already stripped bare.

The looting, which police said was widespread, shocked many Mexicans. National television networks on Monday ran images of dozens of looters working through stores like a swarm of ants, then packing loot into cars, trucks or precariously loaded bicycles.

Officials feared looters would turn on tourists, so they evacuated more than 30 foreigners from an area overrun by people raiding stores.

Arturo Campos said his shoe store was emptied by looters

"The hurricane was ugly," he said. "The people were worse."

Fox, who toured the region Sunday and Monday, ordered Mexico's army to take a larger presence in the city to halt looting and smooth problems in getting aid to all who need it.

Cancun, booming with tourism, has some of Mexico's highest wages. But it also has a high rate of migration from the impoverished countryside and many people have few nearby relatives. The city's glitz and coastline also have attracted drug gangs.

At first, people who had been trapped in shelters or flooded homes for two days were seen taking bottles of water or cans of tuna from convenience stores.

CBS News producer Ben Ferguson reports the Mexican government is scrambling to distribute food and water to local shelters where the basics are running dangerously low (video).

"We've been rationing our food and water at the shelter," Ferguson said. "We don't know when we're going to get more."

But when efforts lagged, looting took off. At a convenience store, Cancun resident Alex Aguilar took batteries and aspirin: "The window was broken, so we just went in and got what we wanted."

Soon, however, a tougher crowd turned toward more lucrative goods.

Dozens were arrested as military officials and police set up patrols and checkpoints to seize looted goods.

Downtown, the city handed out food packages that included rice, beans, crackers and cooking oil, and people stood in line for blocks to collect.

Fox said Monday that he knew of six people killed by the storm, though he did not describe the circumstances.

Earlier, state officials said one person was killed by a falling tree and two from injuries from a gas tank explosion. Last week, Wilma killed 13 people in Jamaica and Haiti.

On the isolated island of Cozumel, a popular spot with divers and cruise ships, the storm knocked out many of the island's docks, making it difficult for the navy to arrive.

"Right now, there is nothing to buy on the island," resident Daniela Ayala told The Associated Press by phone. "People are in the streets looking for food, and they are starting to get desperate."

Dennis Catesby, of Coventry, England, returned to his original hotel room with about nine others to take bedding and raid the minibar of beer and supplies.

"After three days in a shelter, it was minibar time for us," said Catesby, who was married on Monday in Cancun. "The beer is going to be free today."

Others were more desperate. Standing alongside the road in front of the damaged building housing his jungle show, animal trainer Pepe Juarez begged for food for his two tigers and two jaguars.

"I've eaten. I'm OK. But the animals are sick," he said, holding a sign that read: "We don't have food. We need help."

The U.S. Embassy was sending consular officials to shelters to help tourists prepare for leave. The U.S. government also offered to donate $200,000 in hurricane aid.

The storm was a devastating blow to Mexico's $11 billion foreign tourism industry.

"Perhaps the most serious thing is that it is going to take us a couple of months to have 80, 90 percent of the tourism capacity of Cancun working," Fox told said Monday.

"We're approaching the full tourist season. So speed is fundamental," he added.

Fox estimated that there should be $27.6 billion, in aid from various levels of government, insurance and loans to help with reconstruction.

Fox said federal officials were racing to reopen the airport and restore power and water service.

"It is clear that we need quickly to reconstruct the economy, and the economy here is called tourism," Fox said.

Quintana Roo, the Caribbean coastal state that includes the hurricane-ravaged resorts, accounted for half of the nights spent by foreign tourists in Mexico last year.

Nearly 700,000 people live in the Quintana Roo municipalities hit by Wilma, a region that was populated by just a few thousand before the development of Cancun and the other rapidly growing resort centers.