Francisco Madrid Flores took over as new Undersecretary of Tourism Operations, thus replacing Emilio Goicoechea Luna who was appointed Mexican President Vicente Fox’s personal secretary. At the same time, Mexico’s Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo Torres appointed Oralia Rice to substitute Mr. Flores as Undersecretary of Tourism Planning.

St. Lucia´s Pitons Management Area, home to the famous twin peaks known as the Pitons, has been added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. The Pitons are the fourth Natural World Heritage Site declared in the Caribbean. The other three sites are Dominica´s Morne Trois Pitons National Park and two national parks in Cuba, the Desembarco del Granma National Park and Alexander Von Humboldt National Park.

The first statue ever erected in Cuba to pay tribute to charismatic Cuban singer Benny More (1919-1963) –known locally by the moniker of “The Master of Rhythm”- will be unveiled this summer in his hometown province of Cienfuegos. Cuban sculptor Jose Villa is now giving the finishing touches to a life-size, six-feet-tall statue of Benny More, architect Iran Millan, chief of the local Office of Monuments, said in a press conference.

Mr. Antonio de la Morena is sitting as the new Chief Executive Officer of the WTO Affiliate Members. He was recently appointed by the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) Mr. Francesco Frangialli. Mr. Morena has already taken up his post of managing the WTO organ, which represents interests of the private sector (WTO Business Council), education and human resources (Educational Council) and the Task Force for Destinations. He replaced Mr. José Antonio Ferreiro, who retired last year.

The United Nations Children´s Fund (UNICEF) announced today the implementation of a new behavioral code aimed at forestalling the sexual exploitation of minors. The UNICEF´s new code has been pieced together with the help of the World Tourism Organization and the International Network for the Elimination of Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trade (ECPAT). As many as fifty U.S. hotel chains and travel agencies have already put the code into practice.

Sexual tourism has become one major factor behind the expansion of child exploitation in Latin America, while the U.S. clusters the world´s largest amount of sexual tourists, international organizations indicated this week. The biggest leap in demand occurred in the Caribbean, Central America and Brazil, while most of the demand is concentrated in the United States, the United Nations Children´s Fund (UNICEF) stated in a press release.