Mérida, Yucatán — Hacienda Chichi Suárez was a stand-in for the Playboy mansion on Friday until immigration officials came and broke up the party.
Agents arrested one man and six women — the latter mostly working as “bunnies” or models — for working without a proper visa. They were transferred to the Instituto Nacional de Migración and held overnight. Guests, who were largely nationals, were blocked from exiting the premises during the raid.
Among the Playmates arrested are French model Marie Brethenoux and Elif Celik, who is from Turkey.
The authorities did not issue a statement or explain the special scrutiny, said Sipse and other news organizations.
Meanwhile, Playboy Mexico, on its official Facebook page, issued a statement in which it complained that Mexican authorities had committed abuse by interrupting an event that was made “for the coexistence of all our followers.”
Tickets sold for anywhere from 300 pesos for limited access to 2,000 pesos for a “backstage pass” to hang out with models.
News of the event flooded social networks, because no such disruption happened at a previous edition of the Playboy Music Fest in Monterrey on June 3.
A Cancun edition was scheduled for today at the Mandala Beach Club, concluding the three-stop event. This was the first-ever such tour for Playboy Mexico.
The Mérida event promised food, beer, music, 10 Playmates and 100 bunnies in the iconic ears and cotton-ball tails. More than 10 hours of “music and fun” were on the bill.
Sipse said that the crackdown is a response to wider immigration policies enforced in the United States under the Trump administration.
Playboy started in 1953 as a magazine that featured pictorials of nude or semi-nude women. It has since spun off into an international lifestyle brand.
