Mexican Government Votes to Protect Public Access to Beaches

In a bid to ensure its shorelines remain accessible to everyone, the Mexican government recently voted to introduce hefty fines against hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, or other coastal businesses that block public access to the country’s beaches.

In Mexico, all beaches are public by law. Coastal property owners are not allowed to build any permanent structure within 20 meters of the high tide line or restrict public access to the beach. However, that hasn’t stopped some from violating the rules. This issue has long angered locals, especially during the pandemic, with complaints about hotels or private beach club owners erecting barriers or hiring security guards to restrict the public from “exclusive” stretches of public beaches with claims that they are private, according to the Associated Press.

This unfair treatment could soon be a thing of the past as the Mexican government voted unanimously in favor of fining property owners who break this rule up to one million pesos, or $47,000. The bill was passed on Tuesday and will now go to the president for his approval. Consequently, businesses that repeatedly break the law could lose their permits to operate on any part of the beach.

In a statement, Labor Party senator Alejandra del Carmen León Gastéulum emphasized the hotel industry and condominiums regularly harass people who aren’t their customers at the beaches. Therefore, it is “fundamental to end this abuse and flagrant fraud against the Constitution.”

Moreover, Acción Nacional senator María Guadalupe Saldaña Cisneros stated that the new bill will effectively stop the “unfair treatment” that prevents the public from enjoying Mexican beaches.