By Randy Jackson—

In December 2025, formal notices of seizure were posted across the skeletal structure of the Huatulco Convention Center overlooking the Chahué Marina. Issued by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Oaxaca, the notices designate the unfinished building as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, legally immobilizing the site. With that act, a project once promoted as a cornerstone of Huatulco’s future tourism economy entered a new phase, no longer merely incomplete, but formally frozen.

Projects like this are often referred to in Mexico as elefantes blancos: costly public works that never fully deliver on their promise. They are not unique to Oaxaca, nor to Mexico. What makes the Huatulco Convention Center distinctive is how its fate now sits at the intersection of ambitious planning, technical complexity, and a political transition that has left the structure and the community caught in prolonged limbo.

A PROMISE OF DEVELOPMENT

On October 5, 2019, the Oaxacan legislature authorized 3.5 billion pesos in financing for a broad portfolio of infrastructure projects across the state, intended to stimulate employment and reduce poverty. Among them was a proposed convention center for Huatulco. At the time, then-governor Alejandro Murat pledged that a special committee would closely monitor the use of public funds, and that all projects would be completed before the end of his term in 2022.

According to early project documentation, the Huatulco Convention Center was initially budgeted at 70 million pesos (US $3.7 million). Even in retrospect, that figure now appears unrealistically low, reflecting a preliminary concept rather than a fully defined architectural or engineering plan.

Shortly thereafter, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted public works across Mexico. During that pause, however, the project was not merely postponed; it was substantially reimagined. State officials reframed it as a “strategic trigger” capable of elevating Huatulco into the international convention market alongside destinations such as Cancún or Los Cabos.

A VISION TAKES SHAPE

In December 2020, Governor Murat announced a dramatically upgraded project: an iconic waterfront convention center designed to attract international MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tourism. To realize that vision, he appointed architect Enrique Norten, founder of TEN Arquitectos, a Mexican firm internationally recognized for contemporary civic and cultural projects characterized by glass, steel, and bold structural expression.

The proposed design called for an approximately 11,000-square-meter facility integrated into the Chahué Marina, including a 1,285-seat auditorium with advanced acoustics capable of hosting concerts, theatrical productions, and academic conferences. Public plazas and green spaces were incorporated to ensure the building functioned as a community asset rather than a sealed, single-purpose venue.

WHEN REALITY COLLIDES WITH VISION

As the project moved from concept to engineered design, costs escalated rapidly. Building a large-scale performance venue on reclaimed waterfront land introduced significant technical challenges. According to statements from state infrastructure officials at the time, the site required extensive geotechnical reinforcement, including deep foundation work and large-scale soil stabilization, to create a stable foundation before vertical construction could even begin.

As planning advanced and architectural designs were finalized, cost estimates were revised upward. By the time construction formally began in 2022, official figures placed the project at over 320 million pesos. While that amount represented a dramatic increase over early estimates, it more closely reflected the market realities of constructing a specialized, architecturally complex facility in a marine environment. What had begun as a modest line item had evolved into a technically sophisticated public landmark.

A PROJECT IN POLITICAL LIMBO

On November 29, 2022, just forty-eight hours before his term ended, Governor Murat formally inaugurated the Huatulco Convention Center in its unfinished state. Without lighting, equipment, or connection to the electrical grid, the structure nonetheless stood complete enough for a ceremonial ribbon cutting.

For the incoming state administration, the building quickly became a focal point, symbolizing unfinished business and, potentially, deeper irregularities. Rather than advancing construction, authorities shifted their attention to investigation.

Transitions between political administrations in Mexico often involve heightened scrutiny of major public works, particularly those left incomplete. Supporters see this as accountability; critics argue that prolonged investigations can indefinitely freeze projects, regardless of their potential public benefit. In Huatulco, the result has been paralysis: a completed shell, neither advanced nor dismantled, sitting idle on one of the town’s most prominent waterfront sites.

JUSTICE OR POLITICAL THEATER?

The seizure notices posted on the convention center walls are tied to a broader investigation into the 2019 infrastructure program. In late 2023, the Oaxacan Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office arrested Javier Lazcano Vargas, charging him with illicit enrichment and misuse of public funds related to those projects.

Meanwhile, former governor Alejandro Murat has followed a surprisingly different political trajectory. After leaving office, he joined the ruling MORENA party and secured a seat in the Senate, thereby obtaining fuero, the constitutional immunity afforded to high-ranking legislators. The contrast has not gone unnoticed locally. For many in Huatulco, the stalled convention center has become less a symbol of justice pursued than of accountability deferred.

None of this is to suggest that investigations should be abandoned or that financial irregularities, if proven, should go unpunished. But when a criminal process indefinitely halts a project with clear public value, questions arise about balance: between enforcing accountability and fulfilling the state’s obligation to serve the community.

THE COST OF STANDSTILL

For local tourism operators, business owners, and residents, the convention center represents more than a political controversy. It was envisioned as an economic catalyst, one capable of extending the tourist season, supporting local employment, and anchoring complementary cultural and commercial activity around the marina. Its continued dormancy carries opportunity costs that compound with each passing year.

Justice and development need not be mutually exclusive. Yet as long as the Huatulco Convention Center remains sealed off as an immobilized site, it stands as a reminder that infrastructure can become collateral damage in political struggles. The unfinished structure on the Chahué waterfront is no longer just an unrealized building; it is a test of whether governance in Oaxaca can reconcile accountability with the practical needs of the communities it serves.

Randy Jackson blends local reporting from the perspective of a seasonal Huatulco resident with explorations of life and change in Huatulco, Oaxaca and Mexico. Email, box95jackson@gmail.com