The statement issued by the Tulum Secretariat of Public Security and Citizen Protection neither clarifies nor denies the situation: it confirms a pattern of illegality where the municipal authority uses purported powers it does not possess to detain, pressure, and extort citizens and tourists.
The legal analysis is conclusive: the Tulum City Council has no jurisdiction to verify, demand, sanction, or impound vehicles for expired registration, renewal, or payment of vehicle registration cards, nor for tax-related matters such as vehicle ownership fees or state taxes. These matters fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the State.
Even so, the administration of Diego Castañón transforms these state-level concepts into instruments of municipal coercion, constructing an extortion mechanism disguised as “enforcement of regulations.”
The Express Absolution: Judge and Jury
The City Council dismisses the citizen complaint, claiming that the officer acted “within the legal framework,” without an impartial investigation, without a formal administrative procedure, and without allowing the complainant to present evidence. This public self-exoneration violates principles of objectivity, due process, and internal control.
Nonexistent Infraction at the Municipal Level
The Municipality maintains that the vehicle was impounded because the registration card expired in 2021. Legally, this is untenable because:
The registration card and its validity are State administrative acts.
Its renewal, payment, and updates are State taxes.
No Municipality can verify or demand such procedures.
Much less can it impound vehicles or impose sanctions based on state documentation.
Any municipal act based on a power that does not exist is null and void, constituting abuse of authority and possible extortion.
Tinted Windows as a Pretext; Impound Lot as a Pressure Mechanism
The alleged tinted windows are an administrative lure. The true instrument of coercion is the threat of impoundment, artificially constructed through a legal argument that the Municipality has no authority to apply.
The formula is well-known:
- The vehicle is impounded for a minor infraction.
- A state irregularity is “discovered” that the Municipality cannot assess.
- Threats of towing fees, impoundment, and fines are issued.
- The citizen understands that it is cheaper to “settle things.”
That is institutional extortion.
Denial without transparent evidence
The authority claims to have video “that refutes” the complaint, but does not show it in its entirety, does not certify the chain of custody, nor submit it to public scrutiny. Exonerating the officer before presenting evidence reveals an intention of political control, not of clarification.
The closing with “ignorantia juris non excusat”: legal irony
The Municipality states that ignorance of the law is no excuse, when it is the authority itself that is unaware—or pretends to be unaware—of its legal limits.
The one who is unaware of the law in this case is not the citizen: it is the municipal administration. Conclusion
What happened is not an isolated incident or a misinterpretation of the regulations: it is a structural mechanism of corruption where the municipal traffic department uses nonexistent powers to stop, detain, and extort money from citizens and tourists.
Diego Castañón’s administration has turned public roads into spaces for illegal extortion, disguised as an authority.
Source: lapalabradelcaribe
