Cancún Considers Adding Three New Street Markets

Cancún, Mexico — A formal request has been submitted to the Benito Juárez City Council to open three new street markets, known as tianguis, in different areas of Cancún.

José Gamaliel Canto Cambranis, director of Commerce and Services on Public Roads for the municipality of Benito Juárez, stated that this request is under analysis by a review committee.

He explained that the review covers two aspects: a documentary review to verify that the proposed sites are municipalized, and coordinated work between different departments, including the Municipal Secretariat of Security and Transit, as well as the Directorates of Civil Protection and Ecology. These departments issue a preliminary assessment for evaluation by the Review Committee, which has the authority to analyze and, if appropriate, approve or reject the proposal.

Furthermore, the official noted that among the requirements needed to request a new street market are a written document signed by the organization’s president and a list of consent from residents of the area where the market is intended to be established, to ensure there are no complaints.

“With these two important documents, we officially begin the request, and subsequently, we ask the different directorates and secretariats to accompany us in the field to conduct the review and issue the corresponding assessments,” Canto Cambranis said.

Currently, 65 street markets operate in the municipality of Benito Juárez, distributed throughout the municipality, where various types of goods and services are offered on public roads.

“It is a source of family income; the street vendors are practically a community. There we can find not only all essential products but also any product that a citizen may wish to acquire at any given time,” Canto Cambranis added.

Canto Cambranis affirmed that his directorate has the schedules, operating locations, and the number of vendors working in the street markets, as there is coordinated work with the two organizations that represent the majority of the nearly three thousand street vendors in the municipality.

In fact, he mentioned that the so-called “green vendors,” with a registry of over 2,700 members, mostly operate the morning shift markets, while the “blue vendors” are found in these markets during the afternoon shift.