AMLO declares Cobá and Tulum as Zones of Archaeological Monuments

The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has issued a decree declaring the Cobá area, located in the municipality of Tulum, Quintana Roo state, as a Zone of Archaeological Monuments, covering an area of 267-06-38.90 hectares.

This comes as the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) carries out the PROMEZA project (Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones), which includes expanding research, protection, conservation, and promotion of Mexican archaeological heritage. Additionally, in July 2022, another decree was issued declaring this site a Zone of Archaeological Monuments.

Within the archaeological zone of Cobá, there are stelae that represent conquests and ascensions of rulers, in which texts, dates, characters, and place names are recorded; there are also preserved mural paintings with elements such as volutes, feathers, glyphs, human faces, and animal faces.

According to the decree, any construction, expansion, or any permanent or provisional work carried out in the Zone of Archaeological Monuments in Cobá is subject to the jurisdiction of the federal powers in the terms indicated in the Federal Law on Monuments and Archaeological, Artistic, and Historical Zones, its regulations, and other applicable legal provisions.

It also establishes that any advertisement, notice, sign; garage, vehicle sites, gasoline or lubricant dispensers; telegraphic and telephone poles and wires, transformers and electric power conductors, lighting installations, and kiosks, stages, stalls, or any other permanent or provisional construction that is intended to be carried out in this place must comply with the provisions established by the Federal Law on Monuments and Archaeological, Artistic, and Historical Zones.

It is worth noting that the Ministry of Culture, through the INAH, must define within 60 natural days the criteria for the protection, conservation, promotion, and dissemination of the Zone of Archaeological Monuments in Cobá, focused on knowledge, study, respect, and appreciation of cultural heritage.

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