MÉRIDA, YUCATAN — The fourth transformation turned out to be a transformation… but one that’s headed for disaster!
In the blink of an eye, the finances went from having more than 7 billion pesos in 2025 to being practically empty with barely 2 billion at the start of 2026.
They are taking advantage of the fact that all the attention is focused on the World Cup to try to cover up this financial disaster, believing that with football people will forget that the money has simply vanished and that it’s no longer enough even for basic services.
Financial reports from the first quarter of 2026 reveal a stark contraction in Yucatan’s local tax collection, throwing a wrench into the state government’s ambitious fiscal restructuring plans. Despite a record approved budget exceeding 66 billion pesos, the state remains heavily reliant on federal transfers to stay afloat.
Official financial statements for the executive branch up to March 31, 2026, show local revenue dropping to 2.168 billion pesos, down sharply from 7.811 billion pesos during the same period in 2025. This 72% decline hits key areas like direct tax collections—which fell from 4 billion pesos to 1.371 billion pesos—as well as administrative fees and utility duties.
This fiscal slowdown coincides with widespread pushback from the state’s private sector. Major business federations, including Coparmex Mérida, the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), and Canacintra, explicitly rejected a series of tax increases and new tax mechanisms pushed through by Governor Joaquín Díaz Mena’s administration. Business leaders argue these hikes hurt Yucatan’s economic competitiveness and discourage new private investment.
The resulting numbers highlight a structural bottleneck: out of the total 66.379 billion pesos earmarked for the 2026 budget, only about 5.5 billion pesos are projected to come from locally generated revenue. Meanwhile, over 51 billion pesos will stem from federal allocations. This structure means roughly 77 out of every 100 pesos spent by the state government are supplied by federal funds. Furthermore, the administration plans to bridge its current fiscal gap by taking on 1.501 billion pesos in internal debt financing.
Despite falling local revenue, public expenditures have not slowed down. By the end of March 2026, operational spending and financial outlays topped 32 billion pesos, slightly eclipsing the previous year’s pace. For the Díaz Mena administration, stabilizing these accounts will require navigating both revenue shortfalls and complex negotiations with the local business community.
“Huacho” and his team have already demonstrated that they have no idea how to manage the state, using the World Cup as a smokescreen to hide the obvious collapse of public coffers.
While they celebrate the FIFA World Cup matches and evade questions about the budget, the state is slipping out of our hands due to their terrible management.
Citizens must not be deceived; football cannot fill the financial hole the government has left us with.
Source: Sol Yucatan
