By Jose Cortes and Josue Decavele
ACAPULCO, Mexico (Reuters) -Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday the government would this week set out a plan to aid the stricken city of Acapulco after the beach resort was hammered by a devastating hurricane that killed dozens of people.
Lopez Obrador said measures to rebuild the city would be presented on Wednesday, and he floated the idea of drawing funds from 15 billion pesos ($831 million) in trusts held for the judiciary that were canceled last week by the Senate.
Hurricane Otis struck Acapulco with winds of 165 miles per hour (266 km per hour) last Wednesday, flooding the city, flipping roofs from homes, hotels and other businesses, submerging vehicles, and severing communications as well as road and air connections.
The cost of damage from the hurricane could climb as high as $15 billion, according to estimates. Mexico has sent some 17,000 members of the armed forces to keep order and help distribute tons of food and supplies in Acapulco.
“The 15 billion (pesos) should go the victims in Acapulco,” Lopez Obrador told reporters during a regular press conference, referring to the funds held in the trusts.
The move to scrap the trusts had already been politically contentious, as it followed a longstanding feud between the president and judicial authorities, which Lopez Obrador argues are corrupt, hostile to his government, and overpaid.
The government would not need to amend Mexico’s 2024 budget to cope with the Acapulco response, a Mexican official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mexico has scrambled to send supplies and keep order in Acapulco, where residents are still searching for missing loved ones since the Category 5 hurricane barreled ashore.
Looting quickly broke out as the city’s population of nearly 900,000 became desperate for food and water after Otis, which slammed into the iconic beach resort with unexpected ferocity, far exceeding meteorologists’ initial forecasts.
Acapulco’s home state of Guerrero depends heavily on tourism, putting pressure on battered hotels to reopen quickly. The state is also one of Mexico’s poorest, and has long been ravaged by gang violence, complicating the recovery.
Mexican civil protection authorities have so far confirmed the deaths of 48 people in Acapulco and nearby areas.
The government of Guerrero, the resort’s home state, said on Tuesday that the number of missing people had risen to 58.
Lopez Obrador, who has vigorously rebuffed criticism of the government’s response to the hurricane, had said he expected electricity to be fully restored in Acapulco by Tuesday.
State power utility CFE said on Tuesday morning one in four users in Guerrero hit by Otis was still without power.
($1 = 18.0499 Mexican pesos)
(Reporting by Jose Cortes and Josue Decavele; Additional reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher and Dave Graham; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis)
