Yucatán’s Attorney General’s Office ruled that, as suspected, a short circuit caused a fire that seriously damaged the José Peón Contreras theater. Starting at the third-floor audio booth, the Péon Contreras fire rose to the top of the landmark building, blackening a 1907 fresco that graced the interior of the auditorium’s dome, said the Fiscalía…

Mérida’s landmark Teatro Peón Contreras remains a jewel but the public still doesn’t know how tarnished its treasures are after Tuesday’s fire. The Yucatán Symphony Orchestra has suspended ticket sales and is apparently looking for an alternative space. But how about its Steinway grand piano and other instruments? The curtains are almost certainly ruined, but…