Playa del Carmen Cuts Administrative Offenses 8.5% as Peace and Civic Justice Council Convenes

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Playa del Carmen recorded an 8.5% drop in administrative offenses between January and September 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, city officials announced at the first ordinary session of the municipality’s Council for Peace and Civic Justice.

Eduardo Asencio, honorary president of the municipal DIF family services agency, attended the session at the Leona Vicario auditorium in the new municipal palace on behalf of Mayor Estefanía Mercado. Four new council members were sworn in during the meeting.

Asencio said the city’s strategy rests on preventing disputes from escalating, favoring dialogue over sanctions and strengthening citizen participation.

“In Playa del Carmen we have been promoting a civic justice that is closer to the people, one that does not stop at the fine or the punishment but seeks to prevent, mediate and build agreements,” he said.

He said the goal is a model that addresses problems of coexistence at their earliest stage through mediation and consensus-building, rather than limiting the institutional response to penalties. He credited the approach with lowering recidivism but acknowledged that challenges remain in neighborhoods, schools and public spaces.

Andrea Piña, the municipality’s secretary of Civic Justice and Human Coexistence, said the figures position Playa del Carmen as a statewide reference in civic justice and peace-building. She attributed the results to crime prevention and root-cause strategies promoted by Mercado’s administration in coordination with state and federal authorities and civil society groups.