Cancun, Q. R. — The city of Cancun says that they will investigate the Riu Riviera Cancún hotel project for possible contempt after it was temporarily shut down by a judge earlier this week.
The investigation stems from complaints that work inside the closed project continues, which officials from the Ayuntamiento de Benito Juárez (Cancun city hall) say they will verify. If workers are found on site, the matter will be turned over to the Attorney General for contempt.
Jorge Aguilar Osorio, secretario general de la Comuna, confirmed that since Wednesday afternoon, seals of closure were placed at the entrance of the property, indicating its suspension.
“The provisional suspension was granted. Seals have already been placed by decision of the federal judge. We will see that this situation is met,”said the municipal official.
The Cancun judge made the ruling to temporarily shut down the hotel project after a group of 23 minors filed an application for an Amparo where they allege that the construction violates their right to a healthy environment, which was provisionally accepted by the Seventh District Court.
The new Riu Riviera Cancún is set to become a 533-room-hotel located near Punta Nizuc at kilometer 22.5 of the Cancun Hotel Zone. On March 2, the Federal Judicial Council agreed to temporarily suspend the project for “the stoppage of the destruction of endemic flora and fauna located in lots 72-03, block 55 of Boulevard Kukulkán Hotel Zone.”