The Perfect Day Decision Signals the end of a 50 Year Development “Agreement” Born in Puerto Aventuras

Mahahual, Quintana Roo — In the 1980s, businessman Román Rivera Torres coined a phrase that would define half a century of development in Quintana Roo: “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” With that motto, he built Puerto Aventuras — without all the permits, without all the studies.

Authorities, whether through complicity or convenience, let it slide. Since then, the model has repeated itself: build first, negotiate later, and trust that political pressure will eventually bend the authorities.

The situation in Mahahual is not an isolated case. It is the latest chapter in a long history of a business community that learned to operate by breaking rules in the name of family welfare.

Last year, the fourth cruise ship pier in Cozumel was canceled. This year, Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day project in Mahahual met the same fate. Two megaprojects halted for the same reason: they did not respect the environment. What is extraordinary is not the cancellation itself, but that capital and connections are no longer enough.

Business chambers in the south have declared that Perfect Day was “a strategic project that would diversify the economy.” But what diversification? It is exactly what already happens with current cruise ships, multiplied by five: more garbage, more pressure on the aquifer, more collapse of services, and the same crumbs as always. The project included no investment in drainage, drinking water, or community infrastructure. Tourists would be captive inside the complex, with minimal economic spillover into the town.

They speak of progress, but offer the same model from fifty years ago: arrive, extract, leave costs, and leave with the profits.

What is needed now is not hesitation — not a “sometimes yes, sometimes no” depending on social pressure. What is needed is a single criterion, applied evenly, without distinction of who invests or how much lobbying they bring. That is the real certainty, both for responsible businesses that do want to comply and for communities that have been paying the costs of those who do not.

Rivera Torres’ phrase marked an era. Perhaps what we are seeing is the closing of that era. It is no longer enough to ask for forgiveness afterward. Now you have to ask for permission first — and comply.