Inflated enchilada prices have inflamed local authorities in the Michoacán city of Pátzcuaro.
A tourist took to social media last weekend to denounce what he felt was an outrageous price for enchiladas. They were being sold for 200 pesos per order, or approximately US $10, the visitor complained, noting that they had been sold without chicken.
The complaint got the attention of local authorities in Pátzcuaro, where Mayor Julio Arreola said his administration would take an inventory of all of the city’s food stalls in order to keep such an incident from happening again. He assured visitors that there were many delicious and affordable places to eat in town, and asked that they not let the egregious prices of a single stand diminish the city’s charm.
State Tourism Secretary Roberto Monroy also weighed in, saying the federal consumer protection agency Profeco would be called in to investigate.
“We cannot permit this kind of excess, this kind of abuse. Not only with enchiladas, but in hotels, in restaurants, in a bar, in a taxi, we have to make prices uniform and visible, that prices are public and there are no surprises,” Monroy said.
The first complaint sparked several others on social media, where customers of that stand and others accused their operators of gouging and operating under poor sanitary conditions.
The stand in question is located in the Gertrudis Bocanegra Plaza where various food stalls set up to sell to tourists and locals alike. Pátzcuaro officials emphasized that the situation reflected poorly on the city as a Pueblo Mágico or Magical Town, a special designation by the federal government given to towns in Mexico with particular historical or cultural value. Authorities said on social media that people should continue to speak up if they have similar experiences.
With reports from Agencia Informativo de México and El Sol de Morelia
