Mérida, Yucatán — City officials on Monday were asked to halt the approval of more beer-and-liquor outlets.
Milagros Romero Bastarrachea, head of the civic group Movimiento Ciudadano, met with City Council to halt the approval of 60 new sales outlets in the city.
So far this year, the city has allowed 56 new alcohol sales points throughout the city.
Romero Bastarrachea cited violence and crime as a reason to keep a lid on new alcohol sales in the city.
The approval of these beer and alcohol stores only bring more social problems rather than economic benefits, she said.
Romero Bastarrachea said that a survey carried out by MC members showed that one in three outlets in Mérida and its satellite towns violate urban development regulations.
In at least 15 cases, the outlets are not located in the assigned sites — sometimes too close to schools — and they often sell loose cigarettes, in violation of rules set by the state health secretary, she said.
“Our essential objective is to create a participatory democracy that translates into more society and less government,” is a rough English translation of MC’s mission statement as it appears on their Facebook page.
