Growing Opposition Against Foreigners Owning Coastal Lands in Mexico Rodrigo Vera - MexiData.info
go to original May 27, 2013

Vallarta Lifestyles asked attorney David Connell (Connell & Associates, Mexican Attorneys & Consultants, MexicoLaw.com.mx) to provide some insight on the reforms currently taking place in Mexico's Article 27, which determines ways in which foreign investors can and cannot purchase land in Mexico. For more information regarding real estate in Puerto Vallarta, please visit MLSVallarta.com. (virtualvallarta)

Experts are alarmed: The initiative of congressman Manlio Fabio Beltrones, to sell the nation's coastal area properties to foreigners, is an attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Mexico. The U.S. real estate avalanche will come, they say, to acquire land and plunder, with impunity, those already living there.

The amendment to Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, which will allow foreigners to buy beachfront land to build houses, will unleash an "aggressive real estate avalanche" led by large U.S. companies that will take over vast coastal and island areas of Mexico to build exclusive subdivisions for their countrymen.

This phenomenon, experts envision, will give rise to land grabs against already impoverished coastal communities, that will lose their access to the sea and be marginalized by new American owners, with far greater purchasing power and living standards.

No one guarantees either, they warn, that the foreign owners would use coastal and border properties for residential purposes only, since they might also use them for commercial activities or even to carry out political types of work that could violate national sovereignty.

Daniel Olivares Villagómez, an expert on tourism planning and development, said: "Above all [Article] 27 is a defense against possible attacks on our national territory, such as those we suffered in the 19th century. It has a historical reason. But this reform, that Manlio Fabio Beltrones is pushing today, seeks to remove those locks by opening our coastlines to foreigners. It is a very risky reform for the sovereignty of the country."

What are these risks?

First will come an aggressive real estate onslaught by U.S. companies, that will start to buy large tracts on the coast in order to build exclusive residential areas for North Americans, a phenomenon that is already happening, except that now they do so with the fideicomiso trust because the Constitution prevents them from having direct ownership of the beaches.

Why are only the Americans mentioned?

For being the ones who have always been interested in our territory. Their great buying power will allow them to easily acquire coastal properties. There is an impressive market there of people you want to do so, who have a rooted beach culture. Also, there are the largest real estate companies in the world there, that must be rubbing their hands together at the possibility of realizing lucrative businesses in Mexico.

Excerpted from a Special Report published in Proceso, Mexico, D.F., May 19, 2013 ("La de Beltrones, una 'iniciativa vendepatrias,'" Rodrigo Vera, 18 de Mayo de 2013, Reportaje Especial"); edited translation by MexiData.info.

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