Maya Dignitaries Support Xcaret to Preserve Indigenous Jobs

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — Maya dignitaries are publicly backing Grupo Xcaret, saying the company helps preserve around 10,000 jobs for Indigenous people amid a dispute over the use of Maya cultural heritage.

Gabino Cruz Yeh, head of the Chancá Veracruz Ceremonial Center, said the support reflects the group’s respect for Indigenous communities and its role in promoting Mexico’s cultural heritage. He said they are working to ensure appropriate spaces for sharing Maya culture, with ethics and prior consent according to community customs.

“It’s not that the Grand Council is against it,” Cruz Yeh said. “We are supporting Xcaret so that it stays as it has always been, because many Indigenous people work there, and what we want is for those jobs not to be lost. Around 10,000 people from various communities are employed there, and the main goal is to protect those sources of work.”

He also cited the Federal Law for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples and Communities, which he said marked a paradigm shift. Cruz Yeh said Xcaret has taken the necessary steps to comply with that shift.

Asked about the lawsuit filed by another group of Maya dignitaries accusing the company of cultural appropriation and demanding it fund direct development projects, Cruz Yeh said he was not aware of its status. “We have nothing to hide. We are working with the Grand Council and all Indigenous peoples. We don’t handle resources; there is a lot of criticism, but we know nothing about money. We haven’t seen former deputy Villatoro since his term ended, so I can’t say what he did or whether he joined another group. We saw that the case reached the Supreme Court, but I don’t know how it ended.”

Cruz Yeh declined to speculate on whether the opposition from some dignitaries stems from political or economic interests. He insisted their focus remains on working with ceremonial centers to defend their ancestors’ cultural heritage and their communities’ dignity and autonomy.