Mariscos Lety’s, a popular roadside seafood restaurant located at the edge of San Antonio Tlayacapan, will get a new lease on life following an eviction and demolition order executed this week by city authorities.
The business operated by Manuel Montes Avila and his family was forced off the premises it occupied for three decades following a protracted legal battle that involved both the municipal government and Juan Diego Castro Ramírez, the owner of an adjacent property.
In February 2005, Castro filed a complaint with the municipal court charging that Montes was illegally invading public land consisting of a natural arroyo, long utilized as a public thoroughfare leading to the town cemetery. Several months later, presiding municipal judge Susana Guerrero Duéñez subsequently ruled against Montes, imposing a fine and ordering immediate demolition and clearance of the land.
By then the restaurateur had initiated a suit in the state civil court to gain legal possession of the property, a case he eventually lost. All parties continued battling through a series of appeals and amparo (injunction) suits that kept the situation in limbo until all legal recourses were exhausted.
Sitting municipal judge Roberto Perez Vargas explained that last September he received a judicial order to execute the city’s final 2006 sentence against Montes, confirmed through subsequent cases through higher courts. Since then he has been urging Montes to vacate voluntarily, without success. He finally executed the eviction and demolition order early Tuesday, January 15.
Police patrols were dispatched to the scene to prevent the possibility of a violent confrontation. Calm prevailed as restaurant staff removed furnishings, equipment and supplies and city government workers began dismantling the structure.
“I have an obligation to carry out the law,” Perez told local reporters at a press conference the following day. “Personally I felt bad seeing this hard-working man and his family cry out of desperation, but they had fair warning and knew it was coming.”
Montes begin his enterprise in the early 1980s with a small roadside stand where he hawked lunchtime snacks to workers at the Coca Cola warehouse just across the road and a beer depository next door. He gradually expanded into offering ceviche and seafood cocktails, then building a permanent structure to serve a full seafood menu that appealed to a broader clientele. He operated with a municipal business license originally issued in 1995.
According to his son, SuperLake manager Pancho Montes, Mariscos Lety will relocate to Calle Gonzalez Gallo 52, located several doors south of San Antonio’s Mail Boxes, Etc. office. His expects the business will be ready for an opening in about three weeks’ time in a larger facility with a second story dining area offering a lake view.