Does Yucatán Have an ‘Aggression’ Problem?

Yucatán business leaders say a hostile investment climate is scaring off capital, and they’re pointing to the stalled “Las Dunas” beach project as their prime example.

Coparmex Mérida, the local chapter of Mexico’s national employers’ confederation, unveiled its first Data Coparmex 2026 survey this week. The results were bleak: eight in 10 member businesses have no plans to invest or expand this year, the lowest figure the organization says it has on record. Only 17.9% of those surveyed said they intend to grow.

“This is the lowest level since we’ve had records,” says David Reyes Aguiar, president of Coparmex Mérida. “This means eight in 10 Yucatecan business owners who belong to Coparmex Mérida are saying today that this isn’t the time to take risks, isn’t the time to grow and isn’t the time to hire.”

The survey landed days after José Chapur Zahoul, the lead investor behind Las Dunas in Chuburná Puerto, floated leaving the state’s Investment Promotion Council in a private chat message following the project’s closure. He later clarified he never filed a formal resignation and remains on the council, but the exchange rattled fellow business leaders, some of whom pushed for an emergency meeting with state officials.

Asked directly about the episode, Reyes Aguiar was careful to draw a line. “We don’t defend specific projects,” he said, adding that Las Dunas — currently shuttered by Profepa and Semarnat, the federal environmental agencies — isn’t the point. Rather, he said, it’s become a stand-in for a broader pattern: developers who say they followed the rules only to see permits pulled under public pressure.

“‘Las Dunas’ is an example of something that’s been happening, but the problem goes well beyond that,” he said. He listed other flashpoints, including opposition to bullfighting, a dispute involving Heineken, and pushback against solar installations in Ticul. “There’s an environment hostile to investment,” he said. “It seems like it’s now a bad thing to invest.”

Reyes Aguiar also linked the shift in confidence to Mexico’s move to elect judges by popular vote, a reform pushed by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and continued under Claudia Sheinbaum. He said uncertainty over how courts might rule has made businesses wary of betting on long-term projects, on top of red tape and a broader economic slowdown.

Coparmex Mérida says nearly six in 10 member businesses report delays tied to government paperwork, part of what’s driving companies to consider expanding into Central America instead, where the group says conditions are more favorable.

Las Dunas itself remains tied up in court. A federal judge granted a third suspension against the project in August, this time targeting its municipal permits, after residents argued they were never consulted before construction began.

Fast Facts

– Coparmex Mérida’s first Data Coparmex 2026 survey found 82.1% of member businesses plan no new investment or expansion this year – Only 17.9% of businesses surveyed said they intend to grow or hire – Nearly six in 10 businesses report delays tied to government paperwork – Las Dunas, a beachfront project in Chuburná Puerto, remains closed under orders from Profepa and Semarnat – Investor José Chapur Zahoul remains on the state’s Investment Promotion Council after clarifying he did not formally resign

With reporting from Diario de Yucatán