Not even the Mayan god Kukulcán dared to stir up so much controversy in his ancestral territory of Chichén Itzá.
Now, in a new episode of the legal dispute over two iconic hotels, involving the “mortals” Fernando Barbachano Herrero and Rodolfo Rosas Moya, the Fourth Federal District Court, located in Yucatán, ruled to return possession of the two properties to Rosas, the latter businessman in this legal case, and overturned a ruling by a local court in Quintana Roo, issued in June 2025, which had returned both properties to Barbachano, the original owner.
On Thursday night, a large-scale operation was carried out by police officers from the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) to ensure the peaceful transfer of the two disputed hotels, Mayaland and The Lodge at Chichén Itzá, and the initial payment of $4.5 million. This payment was initially made by Rodolfo Rosas through his real estate company, Inmobiliaria R4, to Fernando Barbachano, whose family has a long and distinguished history in the state of Yucatán, dating back to the 19th century, when they were involved in the indigenous exploitation of henequen, considered “green gold” in the global markets of that era.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs also participated, witnessing the audit and the transfer of the properties to Rosas Moya. According to the litigants, the ruling by the Fourth District Court of the Federal Court is final; that is, the hotels no longer belong to Fernando Barbachano, and he no longer has the authority to operate them.
So far, the Barbachano family has not responded to this latest development in the legal dispute.
In June 2025, Fernando Barbachano obtained a supposedly final ruling in his favor in the dispute with Rosas Moya and his company, Inmobiliaria R4. At that time, agents from the Yucatán Attorney General’s Office, in coordination with members of the Secretariat of Public Security and the State Investigative Police, proceeded to hand over the Mayaland and The Lodge at Chichén Itzá hotels to Barbachano.
The operation was carried out in compliance with a request from Quintana Roo authorities, where a court order was issued by a Control Court of the Judicial District of Cancún, as part of administrative file 768/2022, dated April 29, 2025, which ordered the immediate physical transfer of both properties.
The conflict originated in 2020 when Barbachano Herrero sold the hotel complex to Rodolfo Rosas Moya, a well-known businessman from Yucatán, for $10 million. The purchase agreement included a $500,000 earnest money deposit and a $4.5 million down payment upon signing and delivery.
In a purchase agreement, earnest money is a guarantee that the buyer gives to the seller to ensure the fulfillment of the contract. This guarantee can be of different types: confirmatory, penitential, or penal, each with distinct consequences in case of breach.
The agreement also stipulated a payment of $1.5 million within 60 days and another $4 million upon formalization in a public deed, with the stipulation that both final amounts would have to be transferred to a bank account that Barbachano Herrero would later designate.
In April 2021, Rodolfo Rosas paid Fernando Barbachano the first $4.5 million and in exchange received possession and operation of the Mayaland Hotel, as well as ownership of The Lodge at Chichén Itzá.
When the second installment of $1.5 million was due, Barbachano failed to send Rosas Moya the account number for the payment and cut off all communication with him.
Barbachano claimed that one day after the payment deadline, he contacted Rosas Moya to inform him that since he had not received the $4.5 million down payment, this amount would be applied as a penalty and the sale would be terminated.
In response, Rosas filed a complaint against Barbachano with the Quintana Roo Attorney General’s Office for fraud and dispossession, and also sought a refund through legal channels.
The criminal complaint was processed through official request No. 18/2022, stemming from an investigation conducted by the aforementioned institution, which led to the seizure of the property this week.
Furthermore, the embargo on the business and the property, ordered by the Second Commercial Court of the First Judicial District of the State of Yucatán, under case number 00877/2021, was blocked.
Source: jornada
