Tight security for Mexico summit

Protestors are organising their own alternative forum

By Peter Greste in Cancun

Authorities in the Mexican beach resort of Cancun have stepped up security as the latest round of World Economic Forum (WEF) meetings get under way.

Leading industrialist bankers and politicians from across the Americas are gathered in the city but alongside it is an alternative forum, set up by several thousand protest groups fighting what they say are the evils of globalisation.

The authorities have sent in hundreds of riot police

Hundreds of fully equipped riot police have been sent in, and navy boats are patrolling offshore, to prevent clashes of the sort that rocked Seattle almost two years ago.

The counter-forum organisers say they are not planning any violent protests, but the government is still taking no chances.

Powerful figures

There can be few places that better reflect the debates over free markets and globalisation than the polished resort town of Cancun and its service town.

The marble and glass Western Regency Hotel that's hosting the official WEF meeting is a monument to the benefits of free movement of people and goods.

It is part of the huge tourism machine that draws in tens of thousands of visitors from the United States and Europe, with their much-needed dollars.

Anti-capitalist protests rocked Seattle two years ago

Taking part in the two-day meetings are some of the region's most powerful bankers, business figures and political leaders.

They will be discussing how best to generate even more wealth here, although the former Costa Rican President, Jose Maria Figuera, said the conference is also concerned about social groups excluded by globalisation.

Mexico's Economy Minister, Luis Derbez, told participants that more needs to be done to help those left behind to profit from globalisation.

Its benefits are far greater than its problems, he said, but we can't afford to ignore the fact that some people have been left out.

The town of Cancun is a much more typical Mexican community, with a relatively well-kept centre surrounded by thousands of shanties that house the workers who supply the resort with cheap labour.

These are the sort of people that the so-called World Social Forum is fighting for - the relatively poor sectors who, the protestors say, are being exploited by globalisation.