With the publication last night in the Official Gazette of Quintana Roo of Decree 111, approved by Congress and endorsed by 11 municipalities to reform the state Constitution to change the name of the municipality of Solidaridad, said district is now officially known as Playa del Carmen.
The session in which it was announced that the 11 municipalities had voted in favor of the reform to Articles 127, 128, 134, and 135 of the Constitution took place last night, and hours later, the corresponding decree was published in the official government publication, thereby making the name change effective, according to Transitional Article 1 of the same decree.
This implies that, henceforth, “all municipal, state, and federal authorities must recognize the new name of the municipality of Playa del Carmen, replacing the municipality of Solidaridad, without affecting any rights, obligations, or ongoing procedures.”
The measure alters Decree 19 approved by the 7th Legislature, published in the Official Gazette on July 28, 1993, which gave rise to the creation of the municipality of Solidaridad, a name that should now be replaced and understood as Playa del Carmen, according to the decree.
The territorial boundaries and all legal provisions, rights, and obligations of the municipality and its mayor’s office—Puerto Aventuras—will remain in effect, without the need for ratification or additional procedures.
It also establishes that for all legal and administrative purposes, the municipality retains its legal personality and institutional continuity, as only its name has been changed.
Contracts, agreements, trusts, arrangements, commitments, or any other legal instrument to which the former municipality of Solidaridad, its city councils, its departments, the mayor’s office, or decentralized agencies are parties will continue to be in effect under the same terms and conditions.
The name change also does not affect administrative acts, resolutions, agreements, procedures, permits, licenses, assets or liabilities, procedures, and other activities or documents carried out or issued under the previous name, which remain valid and effective.
The same applies to birth certificates, deeds, operating licenses, land registry records, municipal permits, and any other official document issued locally, which remain valid without the need for additional processing.
“Any reference therein to the municipality of Solidaridad shall be deemed to have been made in the municipality of Playa del Carmen,” and no processing may be conditioned on the issuance of documents with the new name of the district.
The initiative was presented and referred to committees on March 7 at the 18th Legislature by Mayor Estefanía Mercado Ascencio, despite the controversy the issue caused at the local level, as there were voices for and against the proposal, which was considered idle, unnecessary, and even costly, given the greater needs.
The councilor appealed to the tourism benefits of leveraging the global brand name “Playa del Carmen,” in addition to recovering the identity of the place, whose original settlement was named that way just over 100 years ago.
The objective also has a political undertone: to erase the name of one of the flagship programs of then-Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994), Solidarity, as a reference to the municipality.
The deputies approved the initiative last week amid a heated session that included insults, shoving, and punches, the likes of which had rarely been seen inside the legislative chamber.
The draft decree was sent to the city councils, as it involves a constitutional reform, and they ultimately approved it.
Source: eluniversal
