These are dark times for Motul, Yucatán, particularly at municipal headquarters.

The new mayor was sworn in Saturday, but the ceremony would have been conducted in the dark were it not for rented portable generators: the electricity was cut off Thursday due to an overdue account.

Mayor Roger Aguilar Arroyo claimed during the swearing-in ceremony that his predecessor, Vicente Euán Andueza, had left the municipality in arrears with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). So municipal headquarters, several adjacent streets and the main square of Motul have no power.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party mayor said the National Action Party’s Euán left outstanding debt of 3 million pesos (US $156,000), 2 million of which is owed to the CFE.

The new mayor pledged to negotiate a payment plan with the federal utility to have the administration’s power reconnected.

The electricity was cut off four times during Euán’s three-year term. He has blamed his own predecessor for the unpaid debt.

Source: El Universal (sp)