Access at risk as opening approaches
A blockade could affect roughly 1.5 hectares of the fairgrounds, obstructing key entrances, commercial spaces and access to the Ferris wheel. Representatives from the Agrarian Prosecutor's Office and state authorities have scheduled meetings with the ejidatarios to seek an agreement and prevent disruption.
The 52nd Feria Yucatán Xmatkuil is scheduled for November 6–29, 2026. According to Diario de Yucatán, organizers expect attendance to exceed last year's record of 3.5 million visitors and project an economic impact of 80–100 million pesos. Admission costs 40 pesos per person, and parking is 50 pesos per vehicle.
Alberto Basulto Soberanis, director of the Instituto Promotor de Ferias de Yucatán, downplayed the threat on October 21. He said negotiations were continuing, noted that the land was the subject of an agrarian lawsuit and said there would be no problems, Diario de Yucatán reported. The protesters, however, say they will restrict access if state officials fail to address their claims.
Land return or compensation
The ejidatarios allege that a former ejido commissary sold communal land to a private buyer, who subsequently transferred it to the government without the legally required ejido assembly. They say the property has been used for years without fair compensation and want formal rent payments or a financial settlement.
Their legal representatives put the claim at about 150 million pesos, including the land's value and rent allegedly unpaid since 2004, according to PorEsto. The ejidatarios are seeking the property's return on the grounds that it was improperly expropriated, or payment at current value if the state intends to continue using it, Diario de Yucatán reported.
David Rolando López Ambrosio, the ejido's legal advisor, says slightly more than 180 ejidatarios with agrarian rights over the common-use land are pursuing the claim.
The acreage and the court case
The area covered by the litigation is much larger than the portion that could be blockaded. López Ambrosio puts the disputed property at approximately 82.66 hectares and estimates that the state government occupies about 40 of the roughly 82 hectares, including the parking area and Salón Izamal.
According to the Diario Oficial de la Federación, a presidential decree dated January 22, 2004, and published January 29, 2004, expropriated 79 hectares, 29 ares and 12 centiares of common-use seasonal land from Dzununcán.
The ejido filed its lawsuit in 2023. A final hearing was scheduled for November 3, 2026, at 10 a.m., to cover confessional and testimonial evidence, a judicial inspection and an expert topographic survey report. López Ambrosio said the law allows the Agrarian Tribunal six months to issue a ruling.
Earlier demands for a meeting
The dispute has already prompted protests at the fair and a direct appeal to the governor. Proceso reported that ejidatarios demonstrated during the November 2025 Xmatkuil fair to demand payment for the property.
On March 18, 2026, they confronted Governor Joaquín "Huacho" Díaz Mena after a public event and demanded an immediate meeting. They said three requests had gone unanswered, the latest submitted on February 4, 2026. The governor then committed to receiving them that same week.
