Akumal, Quintana Roo — A long-running dispute between the Grand Oasis Riviera Maya hotel and owners of the adjoining Aventuras Akumal condominium has escalated, with accusations of illegal demolition, land grabbing, and possible collusion by municipal authorities in Tulum.
On April 24, hotel workers began demolishing a 24-square-meter beach bar located in a common area of the condominium, according to property owners. The owners say the demolition was carried out without construction permits or approval from the condominium assembly, potentially constituting crimes including property damage, dispossession, and abuse of authority.
Workers reportedly admitted they had no municipal license and could not identify a person in charge, and refused to stop despite complaints.
Condominium owners said they notified Tulum’s Directorate of Territorial and Urban Development, but the official response was inadequate. Inspectors who arrived lacked the authority to intervene, the owners claim, and were intercepted by hotel security personnel and taken to meet with hotel executives, after which they left without stopping the work.
“We reported these events at noon on Friday to Architect Libertad Vazquez Burgos, head of the Directorate General of Territorial and Urban Development of Tulum, who offered to send inspectors,” the owners said in a statement. “They arrived at 4:30 PM but were from the Inspection Directorate, which has no authority over irregular construction. When we complained by phone and WhatsApp, she insisted incorrectly that the inspectors did have authority. They were intercepted at the condominium access gate on the public road and taken by Gerardo Moreno, head of Vizprotect private security, to the deputy manager of the neighboring Oasis Hotel.”
The conflict has deeper roots. Since before 2000, the hotel group allegedly blocked a public road in the Akumal Caribe subdivision — known locally as “the walls of shame” — to integrate its hotel expansion. Although a court injunction recognized the road as public and allowed recovery of parking spaces, owners say access has been closed again and construction is now taking place on that same stretch.
One of the most serious allegations involves the possible modification of condominium boundaries. Owners say they have communications in which a hotel executive, Jean Agarrista — a former president of the Riviera Maya hotel association and now a high-ranking Oasis executive — acknowledged ordering the demolition and said he was hiring a surveyor to redefine property limits in favor of the hotel.
“We denounce these facts,” the owners said, showing messages from Agarrista confirming he ordered the demolition and was contracting a surveyor to modify the condominium deed boundaries.
Owners also describe a systematic strategy to take control of the condominium, including pressure to sell apartments, foreclosure lawsuits against owners, and manipulation of assemblies through administrators allegedly linked to the hotel group. The current condominium administrator, Haydee Hernandez Pastrana, was reportedly appointed without owners’ consent and recently named Director General of Tourism in the Tulum municipal government, raising concerns about conflict of interest.
Private security and hotel employees allegedly allow outside guests to access common areas, including the pool, potentially violating condominium property rights.
The owners are calling for intervention by state and federal authorities, as well as audits of permits, licenses, assembly minutes, and administrative decisions related to the case.
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