Cancún, Quintana Roo — Nearly four months after Mexico’s Supreme Court revoked a temporary suspension that allowed Grupo Xcaret to use Maya cultural heritage symbols in its tourism advertising, the ruling has yet to take effect because the court has not issued the final written judgment.
The absence of this document keeps in place the injunction granted to the company in an indirect amparo proceeding and prevents the case from returning to the lower court for a trial on the merits, where Grupo Xcaret faces the National Institute of Copyright (Indautor) and members of the Maya community.
In response, Indautor’s deputy director of contentious affairs, Perla Nancy Vásquez Castelán, asked the Supreme Court to report whether the final ruling on the suspension incident 4/2025 had been completed. The court responded on July 14 that the document “is still in the process of being drafted.”
Chief Justice Hugo Aguilar Ortiz has maintained that, unlike the previous court composition, rulings now do not take months or years to be issued.
In its March 26 decision, the full bench of justices revoked the injunction, ruling that the protection of Maya cultural heritage — being of public and social interest — outweighs the economic interest of a private company. The court also ordered Grupo Xcaret to remove all Maya symbolism from its advertising and website while the underlying case is resolved.
Origin of the conflict
Following the ruling, the conglomerate announced in April the cancellation of the 2026 Sacred Maya Journey, an event involving hundreds of canoeists, citing a climate of legal uncertainty.
The conflict began in June 2022, when members of the Maya people filed a complaint with Indautor against Grupo Xcaret for alleged unauthorized use of elements of their cultural heritage and possible copyright infringement. In December of that year, the institute issued precautionary measures ordering the removal of promotional materials and prohibiting the commercialization of products or services based on that ancestral worldview.
During the proceedings, Grupo Xcaret reached an agreement with the Grand Maya Council of Quintana Roo, which through a “transition contract” allows the company to use Maya symbolism. As a result, some of the complainants withdrew in August 2023, though others continued the litigation.
In 2024, Indautor confirmed the precautionary measures, and in February 2025 the company obtained a definitive suspension. The challenge to that resolution brought the case to the Supreme Court, which ruled on the incident in March of this year.
