Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
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Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
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This just might get some attention/removing restrictions on OWNING land in Baja+++
July 31, 2007
Commerce News
A Mexican Beach Fire Sale?
Editor's Note: Today's article is the first part in a
series about economic, environmental and security issues
involving Mexico's coastal borders.
A senator from Baja California Sur is pushing legislation
that would remove constitutional restrictions on direct
foreign ownership of lands situated within 50 kilometers of
Mexico's coasts. Senator Luis Alberto Coppola Joffroy a
member of President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party
(PAN), is expected to introduce the measure in the Mexican
Congress this week. If approved, the constitutional reform
will eliminate a long-standing law that was crafted to
protect Mexican sovereignty from foreign encroachment.
Many coastal properties are indirectly owned by foreigners
who purchase through trust funds administered by banks.
Arguing that new global economic and political conditions
favor the lifting of all ownership restrictions, Senator
Coppola contends that friendly legislation would boost
economic growth.
"It will open up a new, very profitable opportunity for
foreign and national investors, with the goal of creating a
more solid market," Senator Coppola said.
An unsuccessful candidate for the governorship of Baja
California Sur in 2005, Senator Coppola presides over the
Mexican Senate's tourism commission. In his private life,
he is an owner of the Coppola Hotel Group and a long-time
promoter of tourism in the Baja Peninsula.
The PAN senator's proposal is sparking sharp polemics in
the national press and in high political circles. In the
Mexican Congress, the National Front of Rural Sector
Legislators has firmly come out against a constitutional
reform of coastal ownership nationality requirements.
Citing the creeping loss of coastal ejido lands and the
privatization of beaches in Cancun and elsewhere, the
lawmaker's group views Senator Coppola's proposed reform as
an assault on the rights of indigenous Mexicans.
"Hundreds of complaints exist about the surrender of
coastal zones to foreigners, and the government has not
defended either the national patrimony or indigenous
people, who are not allowed to sell their arts and crafts
even after being stripped of their lands," said Senator
Heladio Elias Ramirez Lopez, president of the rural
legislators' group.
Claiming indigenous Mixtec descent, Senator Ramirez is a
member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, a former
governor of Oaxaca and the current leader of the National
Campesino Federation.
Ramirez disputed Senator Coppola's position that a
constitutional reform would trigger economic
development. "It happens," he said, "but in a fragmented
and generalized way."
Senator Coppola, who made headlines earlier this year for
his vocal opposition to new environmental regulations meant
to protect sharks and rays, unveiled his legislative plans
during a time of feverish development along Mexico's
coasts.
On all coasts, posh luxury resorts, towering new
condominiums, breathtaking private villas and giant cruise
ship terminals increasingly crowd the landscape. North
American, Spanish, Japanese and other investors are
betting the beach sands will turn gold.
Even gritty Acapulco, which was rocked by bouts of narco-
violence from 2005 to early 2007, is experiencing an
intense pace of real estate and commercial development.
"For the second year in a row, we have achieved first place
in private sector investments," Acapulco Mayor Felix
Salgado Macedonio told Frontera NorteSur earlier this
summer. "There are big developments in Acapulco's Zona
Diamante."
>From Baja California in the north to Cancun in the south,
residential tourist properties constitute a hot spot in the
coastal real estate market. A recent market analysis by the
CB Richard Ellis firm estimated sales in Mexico's
residential tourist sector reached $5 billion in 2006, a
figure stunningly above the $3 billion in sales which were
anticipated for last year. According to the company, annual
sales of residential properties could soar from an average
5,000 units to 20,000 units in the next five years.
CB Richard Ellis ranked Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Ensenada-
Rosarito, Acapulco, Puerto Penasco, Los Cabos, and Mazatlan
as the most popular residential sales locations. The
company's study calculated that 70 percent of the new
buyers are foreigners, principally Canadian and US
citizens, while only 30 percent are Mexican nationals.
"Mexico offers US citizens the possibility of acquiring the
kinds of homes they used to purchase for the same prices
and same sizes in the United States, but which have doubled
in cost and been reduced in size during recent years," said
Manuel Garnacho, director of corporate services for CB
Richard Ellis' Latin American and Caribbean division.
Additional Sources: La Jornada, July 27 and 30, 2007.
Articles by Andrea Becerril, Ivan Restrepo and editorial
staff. El Sur/Agenc ia Reforma, July 30, 2007. Article by
Karla Ramirez. Senado.gob.mx
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
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More power to him .... it would be more comfortable to be an owner , rather than a trustee of their property.
- CaboRon
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capt. mike
Elite Nomad
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Location: Bat Cave
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'bout time!!!!!!!!!!!
US doesn't restrict.
open the market, make it free.
might as well get ready for the eventual "United states of North america"
one nation, under all.
or........sumthin like that..........
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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jerry
Super Nomad
Posts: 1354
Registered: 10-10-2003
Location: loreto
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loreto isnt even mentioned see its small potatoes
jerry and judi
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oldhippie
Banned
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I don't see how changing the constitution would make any practical difference, except there would be no annual trust fees. Which, come to think of it,
may stop it dead in its tracks. The banks would be losing the fideicomiso business.
"loreto isnt even mentioned see its small potatoes"
let's keep it that way
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cabobaja
Nomad
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Registered: 9-19-2006
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The banks will lobby against this as they have in the past. They will not go down without a fight. Once the Trust is established, the banks receive
millions of dollars every year in annual trust fees and do very little. As the trustee, they make more if they need to sign as the trustee with
regard to any representation of the beneficiary of the trust.
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JESSE
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 11-5-2002
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It will never happen, and Coppola's career as a politician was cut short with that proposal.
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