Under pressure from locals, facilities in Yucatán town reopened—and closed

May 9, 2020

The police station in Dzonot Carretero, where the chief gave in to an angry crowd.

People in at least one Yucatán community are fed up with coronavirus isolation.

As a result, Javier Santos Puc Poot, chief of police of Dzonot Carretero, literally had his back against the wall on Thursday when a large crowd of residents stormed the police station and demanded public spaces be reopened in the town of around 2,200.

The mob of riled-up citizens gathered to insist that stay-at-home guidelines be lifted and the town’s park and athletic field be reopened for public use. “If we are going to die, let us all die!” the angry townspeople shouted at Santos and a handful of officers.

The beleaguered chief gave in. Standing on a bench and addressing the boisterous crowd, he announced that the park and field would reopen, a decision that was met with applause.

But a day later, Santos reversed his decision, saying that his announcement that restrictions would be lifted was made because he was afraid he would be physically attacked.

“I would like to inform you, and offer you my most sincere apologies if I offended this community,” he said in a video released on social media announcing that public spaces would, in fact, remain closed. “For my own safety at that time I said alright, we will remove the [coronavirus restrictions]. If I had said no, the people would have been all over me.”

The town is located in the coastal zone municipality of Tizimín.