Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Residents blocked two roads in western Playa del Carmen and set tires on fire early Sunday in an escalating protest over repeated electricity outages affecting several neighborhoods.
The demonstration began near the entrance to the El Edén residential development, where residents closed Avenida Chit at its intersection with Avenida CTM. Protesters later extended the blockade to Cerrada Grulla, where burning tires sent smoke over the roadway and further disrupted traffic along the CTM corridor.
Images and video shared by local news outlets showed residents gathered in the street as vehicles were prevented from passing. Motorists were advised to avoid the area while the blockades remained in place. Noticias El Rumbo del Caribe reported both closures and the burning of tires.
The protest followed another round of outages across Playa del Carmen. Residents in Paseo de Xcacel, Sisal, Villas del Sol and part of Misión de las Flores reported losing electricity around midnight Friday, according to Noticaribe.
Power returned after approximately two hours in some neighborhoods, but residents in other areas said they remained without service for more than eight hours. The uneven restoration and lack of a clear timetable contributed to mounting frustration with the Federal Electricity Commission, known as CFE.
Residents said they reported the outages to the utility shortly after the power failed. Some complained that recurring interruptions and voltage fluctuations had damaged air-conditioning units and household appliances. Others reported losing refrigerated food during extended outages.
As of Sunday morning, CFE had not issued a detailed public statement identifying the cause of the outage that prompted the CTM blockades or specifying how many customers were affected. No injuries or arrests related to the demonstration had been reported.
The latest protest is part of a broader pattern of public complaints over electricity service in Playa del Carmen, particularly in rapidly growing residential areas west of the federal highway.
In May, residents from Palmas I, Villas del Sol, Misión de las Flores and other neighborhoods blocked Avenida Constituyentes at Avenida 115 after a series of outages. That demonstration ended after electricity was restored and CFE personnel arrived to perform work on the local distribution system, according to Quintana Roo Hoy.
Following those earlier disruptions, Mayor Estefanía Mercado said the municipal government had maintained contact with CFE and called for “dignified and reliable” electrical service. The city also deployed additional police officers in neighborhoods without power to protect residents and maintain public order, according to a municipal government statement.
Although electricity distribution is a federal responsibility handled by CFE, local authorities often become involved when outages affect traffic signals, public lighting, water pumping or public safety. Road blockades have increasingly been used by residents seeking a faster response from the utility.
The closures at Avenida Chit and Cerrada Grulla affected access to residential developments around Avenida CTM, one of the principal east-west routes across northern Playa del Carmen. It was not immediately clear when both roads would fully reopen or whether the demonstration had ended following restoration of electricity.
Residents were continuing to demand an explanation for the failures and a longer-term solution to the repeated interruptions. Further information was expected from CFE and municipal authorities regarding the condition of the local electrical network and the status of service in the affected neighborhoods.
