Mexico’s beaches are of inalienable public dominion and no statute of limitations can infringe this right, according to federal regulations governing the use and concessions along the nation’s coast, navigable waterways, beaches, estuaries and federal maritime zone.
In the municipality of La Huerta, where the mountains meet the coast abruptly, leaving only small peninsulas and coves on which to build, the tourism industry is chasing away the local populace.
It begins with a gate that keeps cars from reaching the beach. Later they stop you from entering on foot and finally armed private security types chase away those who arrive by boat.
Fishing cooperatives just don’t have the political (read monetary) clout that large tourism development operators wield. Pescaderos have lost their ground in fishing concessions in Careyes, Careyitos and the estuary at La Cruz de Loreto, according to Alejandro Trujillo Hernández, president of the federation of fishing cooperatives in Costalegre.
In Chamela, resort owners are allowing access by the local fishing cooperative, giving them a space to work and live in and even helping to upgrade the dwellings. In El Negrito and Cuixmala, however, fishermen or just plain tourists who arrive on the beach in boats are sent packing at the point of a gun, according to one Universidad de Guadalajara researcher. One fisherman said that access to Tamarindo and Espiritu Santos (just north of Careyes) is routinely denied. When he stopped at Paraiso beach the armed guards saw his nets and told him to leave immediately, he said.
In contrast, local ordinances in the municipalities of Tomatlan and Cabo Corrientes and Cihuatlan protect beach access, but if these governments don’t stipulate access requirements in resort plans, then it is usually illegally denied.
The state government is the enforcer of the public’s right to access coastal areas, but as seen in Tenacatita and other areas, Jalisco’s leaders most often side with the developers.