Supreme Court Ruling Against Xcaret Still Unenforced Three Months Later

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Three months after Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled against the Xcaret tourism company for its use of Maya cultural symbols, the court has yet to publish the specific effects of the ruling, leaving the company’s obligations unclear.

The ruling, issued on March 26, determined that Xcaret must stop using Maya symbols in its attractions, but the official text detailing what the company must do — or refrain from doing — remains pending, according to court records.

The case began in 2022 when the Gran Consejo Maya filed a complaint with the National Institute of Copyright (Indautor) accusing Xcaret of cultural appropriation. In 2023, the company reached an agreement with the indigenous assembly, but the Mexican government continued the proceedings ex officio under the Federal Law for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples and Communities.

In February 2025, a federal judge in Mexico City granted Xcaret a definitive suspension via an amparo lawsuit, allowing it to continue using the symbols. The Supreme Court later took up the case and revoked that suspension on March 26.

In April, Xcaret announced it would suspend the Sacred Maya Journey to avoid further controversy, but stressed it was not required to remove the symbols because the court’s final resolution had not been published.