PLAYA DEL CARMEN – In light of recent events, local businesses in Playa del Carmen are lobbying to ban festivals such as BPM and ARENA, while general security for the Cancun-Riviera Maya region has been generously increased.
In a city council meeting last week, it was made clear that the request to cancel these types of events came from local entrepreneurs.
“We are asking for such events to go away. Do not let anyone else in. We do not want BPM here anymore or any other such events. We want to create jobs in a healthy environment. We do not want it and we thank the authorities who are listening to us,” said Maria Helena Mata Pineda, President of the Council Business Coordinator for the Riviera Maya.
Police guard the entrance to the Blue Parrot nightclub after shooting Monday Jan. 16. (PHOTO: ap.org)
The mayor added that “Playa does not deserve” such tragedies and that these types of events “Hurts us all, people who live in Solidaridad and the tourists who come to Solidaridad…(we) deserve to continue having a healthy destiny, a destination of peace to which they can come.”
Solidaridad Mayor, Christina Torres Gómez, made the announcement earlier last week saying, “At this moment, the general stance is not to perform the BPM Festival anymore.” She added that for upcoming festivals, the city intends to increase surveillance so incidents of this magnitude (referring to the shooting at the Blue Parrot) never happen again.
The shooting has brought forward concerns with the local business sector who are requesting the local government have a better presence in the community to deal with crime.
Both the mayor and representatives of the Business Coordinating Council of the Riviera Maya recognize there are extortions that affect entrepreneurs and even drive away investors.
At the request of the governor and Benito Juarez president, the addition of 300 Federal Force police have already been deployed to the region. The additional specially trained police elements arrived in Cancun Wednesday and have been distributed between Cancun and the Riviera Maya. Motorcycle police as well as roadblocks and foot patrols have been stepped up to return peace to the cities.
Source: riviera-maya-news.com
