In 2021, the federal government under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) allocated 106 million pesos to renovate the Guacamayas Stadium in Palenque, Chiapas. The stadium was home to the baseball team Las Guacamayas, founded and directed by Pío López Obrador, the president’s brother.
The project, managed by the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu), was intended to modernize the facility with new tribunes, palcos, commercial spaces, and upgraded amenities for players and spectators.
However, despite the substantial investment, the stadium now lies in a state of abandonment. Investigations revealed that the renovation was never fully completed. The grounds are littered with trash, including beer cans and a discarded refrigerator, while the field itself is overgrown and neglected. Grime, pigeon droppings, and broken fixtures plague the infrastructure.
Locals report that the offices are used as storage rather than for administrative purposes, and the promised commercial spaces remain unused and vandalized.
Critics have pointed to irregularities in the contracting process. The renovation was awarded to ALZ Construcciones, whose bid was 36 million pesos higher than a competing proposal. Additional costs later pushed the total to 106 million pesos. Experts, including Leonardo Núñez from Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción, have flagged the project as a textbook case of conflict of interest and misuse of public funds.
The Guacamayas team has since ceased operations, and the stadium—once envisioned as a hub for local sports and commerce—has become a symbol of failed public investment. Residents lament the lost opportunity, with one describing the project as a “capricho del expresidente” (a whim of the ex-president).
The facility, located just a kilometer from AMLO’s private residence, now stands as an empty monument to political favoritism and fiscal mismanagement.
Source: Azteca Noticias
