Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — The municipality of Playa del Carmen will continue providing services to the communities of Punta Laguna and Campamento Hidalgo, despite a decree published by the state of Yucatan that reignited a territorial dispute over the two villages.
Yucatan’s Decree 208, published in late June in the state’s official gazette, claims jurisdiction over the communities. But Cesar Uuh Chi, head of Playa del Carmen’s Indigenous Affairs Unit, said the municipal government will maintain attention to residents until Mexico’s Supreme Court resolves a constitutional controversy over the border between Quintana Roo and Yucatan, filed in 2019.
Uuh Chi noted that municipal authorities held citizen dialogue meetings in Campamento Hidalgo just last week, with participation from residents of both communities, to hear their main needs firsthand. During those meetings, residents requested stronger education and health services, as well as improved drinking water and electricity supply.
The official said the demands will be presented to the Municipal Development Planning Committee (Coplademun), whose representatives also took part in the working meetings, so they can be incorporated into the municipality’s planning for public works and actions.
Uuh Chi also pointed out that, regardless of Decree 208, the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) still lists Punta Laguna and Campamento Hidalgo in its official catalog as communities belonging to Quintana Roo.
He emphasized that the Playa del Carmen city council will not suspend public services or institutional attention to these localities solely because of the Yucatan government’s decree, which proposes that authorities from the municipality of Valladolid and the Yucatan state government attend to the area’s residents.
The official said the municipal government will monitor whether the city councils of Chemax and Valladolid take concrete actions in these communities, or whether the decree is part of a public policy strategy by the state government.
Since 2025, the Playa del Carmen city council has made periodic visits to bring programs, services, and citizen attention meetings to Punta Laguna and Campamento Hidalgo, a effort that will continue until a definitive resolution on the territorial boundaries is reached.
Uuh Chi reiterated that the Supreme Court will issue the final ruling determining jurisdiction over these communities, as part of the constitutional controversy initiated in 2019.
