Four Casinos in Puerto Vallarta Closed for Violations Lourdes Martinez - Tribuna de la Bahia
go to original July 17, 2013

On Monday, the Tribuna de la Bahia witnessed the discrete and forceful actions of Municipal Civil Protection  Regulations Unit and Municipal Police as they carried out a simultaneous operation in four casinos that exist in Puerto Vallarta, closing each one of the establishments due to various abnormalities.

The four casinos shut down by the authorities are: Emotion, located in Galerias Vallarta; Crown, Plaza Caracol; Yak, Peninsula Plaza and Casino Vallarta, on the bottom floor of the Deck 12 condos.

After the closing of the casinos on Monday afternoon, the representatives showed up yesterday morning to meet with municipal judges intending to pay the administrative penalty and lifting the closures. However, after almost an hour of waiting, they were told that they must first correct the observations of Civil Protection.

One of the managers of the closed casinos said that after the closure of the casino, they were told that they could come to the Administrative Municipal Unit (UMA) on Tuesday at 10:00 in the morning where they would meet with the municipal judges.

He said that while the closure of all establishments was by breaches in security measures, the person who attended them refused to qualify the fine and although they were told that they must remedy the observations of Civil Protection, they would also have to go to the City Hall to speak with the Mayor.

Interviewed in part, Sergio Ramírez López, Director of Civil Protection and Firefighters, announced that according to the administrative process that is followed in this type of closures, employers should meet with municipal judges regarding these qualifying fines, which can range from 8,000 to 10,000 pesos in lifting the closures.

He explained that after the lifting of the closures, entrepreneurs must remedy the observations, in order to guarantee minimum levels of security coverage so they can reopen. It is up to the judge to determine how long it would be before the entrepreneurs could return to doing business, but it could be from one week to 30 days.

Some of the noted violations were existence of fire extinguishers and signage or lack thereof, emergency exits, fire sprinklers and smoke detectors.

Translated and edited by Team Angels