María José Osorio Emerges as Candidate for Playa del Carmen Mayor Amid Scrutiny

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — María José Osorio Rosas, a local deputy from the Green Party, is positioning herself as the Morena-PVEM-PT coalition’s candidate for the Playa del Carmen mayoral election in 2027.

Osorio first entered Congress in 2021 through a proportional representation seat. In 2024 she won the majority seat for District 10 with more than 40,000 votes, becoming the most-voted deputy in her district. Since then she has combined her legislative role with social outreach and a steady presence on social media.

Political Rise and Family Ties

Osorio’s political career has been shaped by family connections. Her sister, Cinthia Osorio, is married to Mauricio Góngora Escalante, a former mayor of Playa del Carmen and former PRI gubernatorial candidate who was imprisoned on embezzlement charges and later released after filing legal appeals. Critics say Góngora continues to influence his sister-in-law’s political career from behind the scenes, a narrative Osorio has not directly confronted.

Her mother was an active PRI politician in Cancún during the 1980s and 1990s, serving on the municipal council before moving to Playa del Carmen. In 2020, Osorio was named the Green Party’s regional delegate for Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and Tulum, a period in which figures linked to the old political network of former Governor Roberto Borge and the PRI were moving into the party.

Absences and a Stalled Initiative

In the current legislature, Osorio presides over the Planning and Economic Development Commission. She has presented initiatives on seniority bonuses and declarations of absence for missing persons, but her most contentious proposal sought to reform the Civil Code to protect image and identity from the misuse of artificial intelligence. Journalists and communicators immediately criticized the measure as a possible tool for censorship.

After meeting with representatives of the journalists’ community in Playa del Carmen, Osorio said she would withdraw the initiative in its current form and draft a new one. She attended the meeting alone, without the colleagues who had accompanied her when the bill was introduced.

Records from the Quintana Roo Congress also place Osorio among the deputies with the most absences. One count attributed 28 absences to her while she continued to receive a full salary.

She was also the notable no-show at the legislative session that approved changing the municipality’s name from Solidaridad to Playa del Carmen, a reform with direct impact on her district. She offered no public explanation and did not congratulate Mayor Estefanía Mercado on the achievement.

A Divided Local Reception

Osorio’s candidacy has support from the Green Party and the coalition, and she maintains ties with taxi and mototaxi drivers in the area. But in neighborhoods and along Fifth Avenue, residents are talking less about her legislative initiatives or her 2024 vote total than about her absence from the name-change vote, the withdrawn proposal and her family connection to a former mayor who left outstanding debts.

Osorio has a seat, a party and a network. What she does not have, so far, is a clean attendance record or real distance from the political past that accompanies her. The 2027 election is approaching, and local memory is not erased with a legislative seat.