70 Businesses Close on Playa del Carmen’s Fifth Avenue

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — About 70 businesses have closed on Playa del Carmen’s Fifth Avenue, the city’s main tourist corridor, as owners face high operating costs, a worsening security climate, the effects of sargassum, a downturn in tourism and higher fees for municipal permits and paperwork. Several owners also say they have been pressured by public employees and intermediaries demanding money.

The closures come as Mayor Estefanía Mercado Asencio’s administration responds to corruption allegations. City officials announced they had dismissed Urban Development Director Óscar Emmanuel Gallardo and Treasurer Javier Regalado Hendricks after an internal review uncovered irregularities in the handling of resources and permitting. The mayor promised “zero tolerance for corruption.”

The investigation has also drawn attention to Darwin Covarrubias, head of the Civil Protection, Risk Prevention and Firefighters Department. Covarrubias has faced accusations of extorting business owners, including during an earlier stint in the same post under former Mayor Laura Beristain. A state audit found that Beristain’s administration had 326 million pesos in federal funds that could not be accounted for, and she was later barred from public office for three months.

Local entrepreneurs say outdated regulations give civil protection inspectors wide discretion, opening the door to abuse. The department approves internal protection programs, medical service and ambulance contracts, liability insurance for events and commercial venues, and rescue plans for hotels and beach areas. It has about 50 inspectors who review an average of 200 businesses, hotels and restaurants each month in a destination that draws some 6 million visitors a year.

The Riviera Maya Business Coordinating Council has urged its members to reject intermediaries and report irregularities to authorities.

Orlando Muñoz, a city council member who chairs the Public Security Commission, said a proposed overhaul of civil protection rules has been stuck on Covarrubias’s desk for some time. “We cannot keep hurting those who are already paying,” Muñoz told local media. “People are pulling down their shutters.” He argued that updated regulations would eliminate arbitrary enforcement. “If you are my friend, I charge you one UMA; if you have money, I charge you a thousand. That is the discretion we must eliminate.”

A separate fire department regulation is also pending; its passage would allow the city to hire 15 additional firefighters. Playa del Carmen has experienced several fire incidents tied to recent power outages and blackouts caused by the Federal Electricity Commission.