Is the Mandala Beach Club trying to “privatize” the beaches of Cancun?

Cancun, Quintana Roo, (April 06, 2021).- Just five months after the obligation of the concessionaires of the federal maritime land zone to allow free transit went into effect, the Mandala Beach Club insists on privatizing the beaches of Cancun, with the placement of a dividing fence.

In a tour of the place, it was possible to verify the installation of wooden poles, which bathers had already denounced on the concessioned beach “Gaviota Azul”, where the owners of the Mandala were pointed out to obstruct the transit of beachgoers.

According to the reforms to the General Law of National Assets, published just last October, the concession of usufruct of the beach does not give the companies the right to prohibit, in any way, free transit on the beaches .

“Access to the maritime beaches and the federal maritime terrestrial zone adjacent to them may not be obstructed, inhibited, restricted, hindered or conditioned in any way, except in the cases established by the regulations”, the last paragraph of the aforementioned law mentions.

Faced with this situation, the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat) of the municipality of Benito Juárez reported to the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa), in order to investigate the matter and, where appropriate, apply the corresponding sanctions .

The federal agency has within its powers to monitor respect for the rules that regulate the coastal strip, while the Zofemat is only dedicated to the maintenance of the coastal aeras.

Despite this, Zofemat personnel assured that the concessionaire – Mandala Beach Club – was urged to remove the fences that prevent free transit on the beaches of Cancun. However, the Zofemat has not received any response and the fence remains there.

This is not the only one in which companies, mainly hoteliers, have tried to privatize the beaches in Quintana Roo. Last year there were two similar incidents.

The first was in March 2020, when the Mamitas Club evicted a couple of tourists who were enjoying the beach and another national case was made known, after the dissemination of a video on social networks that accounts for this fact.

Last December, the Hilton Hotel in Cancun placed a fence on a beach, and after a formal complaint, they had to remove it.

Article 154 of the General Law of National Assets establishes penalties of up to 12 thousand times the Unit of Measurement for those who obstruct the access or transit of people on the beaches anywhere in Mexico.