Piste, Yucatan — The Indigenous Government Council of Piste Chichen Itza has called for a peaceful march on Friday, July 17, to protest a sharp decline in economic activity that residents say has hit the community since the Visitor Center (Catvi) became the sole access point to the Chichen Itza archaeological site.
In a press conference, council members said the drop in visitor numbers has directly affected merchants, tour guides, transport workers, artisans, ejido members, and others whose livelihoods depend on tourism.
“Today we see empty businesses, sales that have plummeted, worried families, young people starting to leave the town because they no longer find opportunities — and that cannot be normalized,” community representatives said.
The council said the impact reaches nearly all of Piste and called for a review by the responsible authorities. They noted that Yucatan’s Secretary of Tourism Development, Dario Flota Ocampo, recently acknowledged that the decline in visitors to Chichen Itza is due to the adjustment period following the Catvi’s operation.
“If an authority recognizes there is a problem affecting visitor arrivals, then there must also be the will to review the decisions that are now harming our community’s economy. A good authority is not one that never makes mistakes; a good authority is one that listens, evaluates, and corrects when a decision is hurting a town,” they said.
The march is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Lienzo Charro La Teresita and end at the camp where the community usually gathers. Organizers said the protest will be peaceful and aims to draw attention to the economic damage caused by the new access system, as well as to demand that authorities reconsider the Catvi operation.
