Secret Battle for Mexico’s Calica Land

Playa del Carmen, Mexico — A long-standing legal conflict over the land owned by Calica, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Vulcan Materials Company, has reignited, revealing a covert struggle between two powerful political families from Cozumel vying for control of the territory.

Despite the ongoing litigation with the federal government, politically influential Cozumel families have maintained an interest in these lands and had previously even drawn up plans for them. The Cozumel Group, led by Félix González Canto, and a faction of the Joaquín family from Cozumel are reportedly competing “under the table” to acquire the land should the litigation conclude with a total expropriation.

Among the future plans for the area is a proposal to utilize the excavated pits to construct swimming pools, while other comprehensive ecotourism and tourist projects are also mentioned as possibilities for either of the two groups.

Historical Plans and Political Connections

These plans were first conceived in the 1980s by the Cozumel Group, which envisioned building a luxury subdivision and another tourist zone with high-value towers and condominiums to compete with the large consortiums that existed and predominated in the former municipality of Solidaridad.

The project resurfaced in the new millennium when Félix González Canto became the constitutional governor of Quintana Roo. While not an executive project, it was seen as a realistic long-term vision.

It is important to note that the Cozumel Ecological Zoning Program shows that the regulated Environmental Management Unit—where the Calizas Industriales del Carmen polygon is located—has a predominant use of mining, port, and industrial activities. However, compatible uses are tourist and commercial, conditional on the Environmental Impact Statement approved in 2000.

The dispute over the land, which still has an owner, intensified between the families. When Félix was governor, his cousin Juan Carlos González Hernández was governing Cozumel and was later appointed Delegate of Fonatur in 2013. At that time, Calica was operated partly by the municipality of Cozumel and partly by the then-municipality of Solidaridad. The state was then governed by Carlos Joaquín González, the half-brother of Pedro Joaquín Coldwell.

Government of Zedillo Denied Involvement

The concession for Calica, a company that became prominent during the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was negotiated to cease its environmentally damaging activities. López Obrador blamed former Secretary of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries, Julia Carabias, for having granted the concession to the then-Calica during the term of Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León.

However, the biologist and former official denied this. She stated at the time that all the PRI administrations in Quintana Roo, from Miguel Borge, Mario Villanueva, Joaquín Hendricks, Félix González Canto, and Roberto Borge, continued to extend Calica’s permits.

Dispute Over Environmental Sanctions

Although Calica promoted a new legal recourse to challenge the refusal to annul the closure imposed in 2022 by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) on the property “La Rosita,” located south of Playa del Carmen, the back-and-forth between these two groups has not subsided.

As recalled, this was the second lawsuit handled by the Twenty-Third Collegiate Circuit Court in Mexico City, the same court that this week authorized the company to enter its lands, but only to carry out environmental restoration work, according to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat).

According to court records, Calica filed the appeal for review 867/2025 on October 15, with the aim of challenging the decision of the Eleventh District Court in Administrative Matters in Mexico City, which had previously dismissed its request for legal protection.

The original refusal was based on the defense of the right to a healthy environment, arguing that the extraction activities affected native species of difficult regeneration and its forest soil, without having the corresponding authorization for a change in land use.

“The corrective measure imposed seeks to minimize the environmental damage caused by the activities carried out on the ‘La Rosita’ property,” states the ruling that denied the company’s injunction.

Calica has focused its legal efforts in the country’s capital after not obtaining favorable rulings in Quintana Roo courts. The company, which for over three decades extracted stone material in the region, has been accused of exceeding the granted environmental impact permits.

The recent authorization for the company to access its lands solely to perform restoration work represents a partial advance in the legal and environmental conflict, but it does not imply the lifting of the closure or the cancellation of the fine amounting to several million pesos.

Ortega Joaquín: Behind the Tourist Urbanization in Calica

The family of former Cozumel mayor Gustavo Ortega Joaquín moved ahead with tourism expansion plans on the Calica lands and was authorized for a beach club on the Punta Venado property, adjacent to the still-owned property of the U.S. Vulcan Materials Company subsidiary.

They own more than 250 hectares of land located south of Playa del Carmen, next to Calica’s main property of over 2,200 hectares, where for decades stone material was extracted under the shelter of PRI and PAN governments.

These are the Punta Venado and Punta Ina Xcaret properties, owned by Rosa María Joaquín Alcerreca de Ortega, mother of Ortega Joaquín, and cousin of Pedro Joaquín Coldwell, former Secretary of Energy during the term of Enrique Peña Nieto and former governor of Quintana Roo.

To carry out these tourism expansion plans in that zone, before the management program for the protected natural area Flora and Fauna Protection Area Felipe Carrillo Puerto—which includes the Calica lands—was published, they obtained authorization for the operation of a beach club on the coast, about two kilometers south of the disembarkation zone of the also-called port of Punta Venado.

This occurred in the context of the Mexican government’s plans to initiate sustainable tourism in the area, although so far no government works have been executed, only those of this family.

According to environmental documents and public deeds consulted by Sol Quintana Roo, it is a property of 4.2 hectares on the coast named Punta Ina Xcaret. The property with real folio 156022 was adjudicated to Rosa María Joaquín Alcerreca through a dation in payment for a probable contractual breach by the company Oleum Joint Venture, from Baja California. The operation amount was seven million 300 thousand dollars, a not insignificant sum.

The project promoter benefiting this family is the company Cancún Seas Adventures, which exploits the site through a lease agreement.

Beach Club in Calica Area

With the property thus in their favor, in January 2024 the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) authorized the construction of a tourist development adjacent to the port of Punta Venado. It is the Punta Venado beach club, which is now located in the known property in Playa del Carmen called Punta Ina Xcaret.

Cancún Sea Adventure, the lessee of this family, invested four million pesos for the construction of beach club facilities with the possibility of developing up to 30% of the property, one hectare in surface area, for the construction of housing.

The area is one of the best conserved in Playa del Carmen, and in the last four years various projects have been rejected by the same federal agency, so the authorization of this beach club set a precedent.

According to the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) submitted to Semarnat for evaluation, it is a development clearly identified as tourist. The technical document for its evaluation was submitted in April 2022. Besides being located near Calica, it is about four kilometers south of the Xcaret ecotourism park.

Another Property

However, the largest property, according to public deeds consulted by Sol Quintana Roo, is Punta Venado in its largest fraction of 203.7 hectares, under real folio number 288527. Here, they have not been able to fulfill their objective of obtaining environmental impact permits for the regularization of works that over seven years ago were sanctioned by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa).

According to the file consulted by this media outlet, these are works where currently, without having environmental impact permits, activities such as hiking and sports tourism are carried out.

The promoter submitted an MIA just over a year ago, this time in the name of Rosa María Joaquín Alcérreca, who sought to regularize works undertaken over a decade ago. Finally, Semarnat determined that conditions for tourist development do not exist due to the presence of an important mangrove reserve that would have to be cut down.