Residents in Playa del Carmen Threaten Blockades After Six Days of Blackouts

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Hundreds of families and businesses in Playa del Carmen endured a sixth consecutive day of power outages Thursday evening, with residents threatening to block roads to pressure the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to resolve the crisis.

Reports of blackouts began flooding social media and neighborhood groups around 5 p.m., with outages affecting areas including Paseos de Sisal, Xcacel, Misión de las Flores, Palmas I, Villas del Sol, In House, Ejido, La Guadalupana, El Petén, Bellavista, and Cristo Rey. By 7:30 p.m., many were still without power.

In Villas del Sol, which had largely avoided outages in previous days, the blackout hit stages three and four hardest. Residents reported spoiled food, damaged appliances, and difficulty coping with the high temperatures.

Frustration has escalated, with calls circulating on social media for nighttime blockades and protests to demand the CFE take action. For neighborhoods like Sisal and Xcacel, Thursday marked the sixth straight day of power failures, causing economic losses for small businesses, spoilage of refrigerated goods, and constant discomfort for families.

City Council Secretary Luis Herrera Quiam said the blackouts are mainly due to circuit overloads caused by increased energy consumption from air conditioners and other appliances during the heat wave. He noted that after meetings with new CFE superintendent Guillermo Pedrero, officials acknowledged the strain on the electrical grid. Herrera Quiam also cited vandalism and accidental damage to infrastructure as contributing factors.

The official said projects and investments are being planned to strengthen Playa del Carmen’s electrical infrastructure, but acknowledged that these measures will take time to implement.