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Page 2 of 2 Small Town Atmosphere Many local residents clearly have the date December, 6, 2003 etched in their minds when this small town was privy to some high profile visits. Fifteen helicopters touched down in Pozos on that day carrying such luminaries as the actress Veronica Castro, Televisa owner Emilio Azcarraga Jean - Televisa is Latin America's biggest television network and the biggest Spanish network in the world - and Guanajuato Gov. Juan Carlos Romero Hicks.
More recently, former President Vicente Fox and his wife Marta Sahagun have also paid a visit. It was rumored that some of Fox's relatives, who came along on the trip, bought a sizeable chunk of land and that the former president lent a hand in negotiating the transaction with local landowners. "Pure small town gossip," says Luis Navarro, who heads the co-op of Pozos landowners. "The former president and other officials were invited at the behest of Guadalupe Villegas." Villegas is the current mayor of San Luis de Paz, the municipal where Pozos lies within. "It was nothing more than an informal lunch," says Adolfo Gomez, a businessman from nearby Leon and Fox's brother-in-law. Gomez is behind Minas de Pozos, a colonial-style 33-house complex on the outskirts of Pozos where each house goes for US$160,000 to US$200,000 a pop. Aside from Minas de Pozos, Gomez has also acquired 500 hectares of land for future developments. He was able to acquire the land at 200 pesos (almost US$20) per square meter. According to his own words, Gomez represents an "unnamed" Irish company who are planning to invest more than 4,200 million pesos (US$382 million) over the next 20 years in the area. Earmarked are a top of the range golf-course and more luxury housing. There are also suggestions of renovating the local mines as a future tourist attraction. "Our market research says that we can sell between 25 to 28 houses a year but everything depends on the availability of basic amenities," explains Gomex, who is married to Susana Fox, the former president's sister. Up to now, it's only rumors that possible investors such as Vicente Fox or ex-banker Roberto Hernandez, who owns four haciendas in Yucatan and two private clubs in Jalisco, are ready to pump millions of dollars into Pozos. The real evidence of outside investment coming into the town are the small but ever increasing band of U.S. retirees who are settling down there. Still Without BasicsEven though Pozos has now three hotels, five restaurants, 150 phone lines including three internet cafes, there still lacks an effective network to distribute water throughout the town. Residents have to solicit water via trucks coming from San Luis de Paz to fill up empty cisterns. "Four years ago we promised to make Pozos into a government-funded 'Magic Village.' To achieve that goal we needed to have in place a working drainage system, running water, and street lighting," complains Alejandra Alva, who is a member of Pozos Commission for Tourism. "There already exists 30 Magic Villages that have received 300 million pesos (US$27 million) in the last five years from the federal government," she added. The hopes of Pozos' fortunes lies in the hands of Town Mayor Jose Gonzalez, who is also Alva's husband, and who previously worked as the town's public notary. He is championing a 25-kilometer highway to nearby Presa Paso de Vaqueros which would significantly increase Pozos access to goods and services. The project needs a US$100 million to get completed. The FutureIn the United States there are currently more than 78 million retirees over 60 who earn US$75,000 plus a year, twice as much as the national average. "This demographic is ready to buy land and developments in Mexico but only if water, highways, phone lines and medical centers are also available," explains Mauricio Monroy, a consultant for Deloitte and Touche in Tijuana. Pozos is still finding its feet in terms of catering to the massive influx of foreign retirees into Mexico but judging by the changes in the past five years it's set to be an important and cheaper alternative to the saturated market in San Miguel de Allende and many prudent U.S. investors are already parting with their dollars for a piece of the action. Return to top
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