Isla Marias prison is closed. However, the island and others in the cluster that are located about 100 miles Northwest of Puerto Vallarta may become a tourist attraction and visited by Vidanta Elegant.
Is Vidanta Interested In Isla Maria and Playa Espiritu?
March 17, 2019
Recently published articles in the Mazatlan Messenger, Mazatlan Post and Reaccion Informativa describe opportunities in which Grupo Vidanta has stated an interest. One centers on the Islas Marías, which is a group of islands that is about 105 miles Northwest of Puerto Vallarta and 110 miles Southwest of Mazatlan. One of the last island prisons is located on Islas María Madre. The prison is now decommisioned and prisoners have been relocated elsewhere. But the Mexican Federal Government would like to turn the islands into a cultural center, and Vidanta may want to build a hotel there and include the islands in the Vidanta cruise itineraries.Not far away is another property that may be interesting to Vidanta. The Mexican Federal Government purchased in 2007 2,500 hectacres of beach front property through an agency that was going to develop the property to imporve tourism to the area. Poor Economic conditions have stalled full development of property. Grupo Vidanta may be interested in purchasing 15 acres.
Interesting announcements, and they provide insight into new opportunities that could become available to members of Vidanta's growing list of resorts.
Former island prison could be part of Mazatlan’s surrounding tourism attractions
Source: Mazatlan Messenger
By StaffMarch 15, 2019 14:09
The Federal Government said Monday it has transferred all the inmates from the infamous Isla Marías prison, the last island penal colony in a hemisphere once dotted with remote island jails like the one depicted in the movie “Papillon.”
About 584 of the prisoners have been moved to mainland jails in the northern border state of Coahuila, and 68 were taken elsewhere or released. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the islands will be turned into a cultural and environmental education center. The four islands — only one of which is inhabited — are located 70 miles (110 kilometers) off the Pacific coast of Nayarit state.
Oscar Perez Barros, Sinaloa’s Tourism Secretary announced that there is also a tourism-based project slated for the Islands
“Grupo Vidanta is interested in building a hotel complex on the island as well as in Playa Espiritu. Grupo Vidanta was the first one interested in buying 15 hectares of land at Playa Espiritu.” said the Secretary.
Grupo Vidanta are owners of the “Vidanta Elegant” cruise ship that has been revamped and the Group will be announcing soon the route starting from Puerto Vallarta and visiting Mazatlan. In the future the project will include visits to Playa Espiritu and the Marias Islands.
The pier on Isla María is about 300 feet long, perfect for the Vidanta Elegant.
Lopez Obrador said the new Islas Marias cultural center will be named after Jose Revueltas, a novelist who was imprisoned there and wrote the novel “Walls of Water.”
“Jose Revueltas must be happy, wherever he is, because this site, these islands will become camps for young people to visit them and get to know and protect nature,” said Lopez Obrador
Sinaloa: Playa Espiritu is either finished or it will be Auctioned off
January 27, 2019
The President of Mexico emphasized that in visiting the facilities of the tourism project, you will see if it continues or is sold; explained that it is about 2 thousand 500 hectares that cost 150 MDD
El Rosario, Sinaloa. The Integrally Planned Sustainable Center “Playa Espíritu” could be sold or auctioned, said Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of the Republic, during his visit to southern Sinaloa.
“It’s a land that was bought in a government and like 2,500 hectares for a tourism development, and they paid like 120-150 million dollars, and there it is, let’s see what we do with that land because they are the people’s goods, it’s money of the people, is money of Mexicans that we want to use for the benefit of Sinaloa, “he said.
Lopez Obrador said that the visit he will make this Saturday afternoon to CIPS “Playa Espiritu” in Escuinapa, which will be private, will be to decide if the tourism project continues with government resources, or if it is sold or auctioned.
“Nothing else we will see what is more convenient, if we end it as a government promotion with the private initiative or auction it, that is, it cost so much, we need money for the dams and other activities, companies that want to invest and we could do it in this way, “he said.
“Sell it or develop it without getting lost; that at least we take what has been invested, because it is money of all the people, that is what we come from and we will continue to find, “added López Obrador.
The President of the Republic indicated that if the CIPS lands are sold or auctioned, the resource will be invested in benefit of the State of Sinaloa.
“Whatever is decided, it will be for the benefit of Sinaloa, those resources will be here, in Sinaloa; I want to see it, we will be constantly seeing each other, because there will be no divorce between people and Government, “he reiterated. Source: Reaccion Informativa The Mazatlan Post
SEDECO trusts that Playa Espíritu will fall into the right hands
The secretary of Economy, Javier Lizárraga Mercado, indicated that it hopes that it is for good the sale to private entrepreneurs of Beach Spirit (“Playa Espiritu” )
March 17, 2019
Culiacán, Sinaloa (Informational Reaction) - After the announcement that Playa Espiritu will be sold to individuals, the Secretary of Economic Development (SEDECO), Javier Lizárraga Mercado, indicated that he is trusting that said beach will fall into good hands.
The state official said that it is an ambitious project that was planned to put the south of Sinaloa high by the hand of the Santa María Dam.
"Spirit Beach hope that it falls into the right hands, that allow us to move forward, I would like with all my heart because it was a project that must be remembered that comes with the dam Santa María, are two projects almost indivisible but hopefully for good," he said.
Regarding the signs of corruption in the purchase and sale of land in Playa Espiritu, Lizárraga Mercado washed his hands, because he said that he did not have to participate in that administration.
"Actually I do not know, I did not touch or participate in that really," he concluded.
Source: Reaccion Informativa
GRUPO VIDANTA PLANNING TO INVEST IN A TOURIST COMPLEX ON ISLAS MARÍAS
March 18, 2019•Vallarta Daily News
Grupo Vidanta is already planning to invest in a tourist complex on Islas Marías, through the construction of a hotel and the incorporation of its Elegant Vidanta sea cruise to the Puerto Vallarta-Mazatlán-Islas Marías route.
The president of the Mexican conglomerate of hotels and resorts and real estate (Grupo Vidanta), Daniel Chávez Morán, is among the first to be interested in investing in what was the Federal Criminal Colony of the country, until the beginning of March of this year.
This was reported by the Secretary of Tourism of the State of Sinaloa, Óscar Pérez Barros, who said that the incorporation of the Marías Islands into tourism development will reinforce the attractiveness of Mazatlán and the Integrally Planned Center (CIP) of Playa Espíritu in Teacapán (limits of Sinaloa and Nayarit).
He said that it will try to take advantage of the attractiveness that represents the archipelago of the Pacific Ocean of more than 243 square kilometers, which consists of four islands (María Madre, María Magdalena, María Cleofás and San Juanito), which were declared by UNESCO, a reserve of the biosphere in 2010.
The region is attractive due to the variety of endemic species, both marine and terrestrial. There is a rich marine fauna in which several species of sharks and the gray whale frequent, as well as large schools of fish and mollusks.
The official said that Grupo Vidanta is a conglomerate of 25 tourist hotels located in Nuevo Vallarta, Riviera Maya, Los Cabos, Acapulco, Puerto Peñasco and Mazatlan. In addition, it operates the Mar de Cortés International Airport.