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One of Mexico’s most famous prisons begins a new chapter this weekend as part of a Pacific tour after a makeover aimed at bringing tourists to the former penal colony.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador opened the Islas Marias Tourist Center on Friday evening, bidding to turn the decades-old federal prison of the Islas Marias Islands into a local attraction and site for history buffs.
This week, López Obrador said, “This is tourism to explore, to explore, to live with nature.” “To recreate history, it’s something special, extraordinary.”
Alongside guest villas, restaurants, cafés and beaches, the renovated site includes an arch named after Nelson Mandela, who spent 18 years in prison on South Africa’s Robben Island before being elected president of the country.
“Behind prison walls, ideas and changes can exist for those who want to change history,” Mandela said in a promotional video for the Mexican government.
Exterior view of the new Marias Islands Cultural Center.
Raquel Cunha / Reuters
Located 62 miles from western Nayarit state, Islas María became a prison for the dictator Porfio Díaz in 1905 and was in permanent use until it was closed by López Obrador in 2019.
The prison once held many political prisoners, including Jose Reveltas, an influential Mexican writer imprisoned several times for his left-wing activism.
The government has announced tourist packages for the islands, with ferries sailing to the main settlement of Porto Baleto from next week. The center is managed by the Mexican Navy and is part of a protected UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
The number of international visitors to the country in the first 10 months of 2022 increased by 56.4 percent compared to the same period last year and by 7.3 percent compared to 2019.
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