Cuernavaca sees 300% rise in street vendors, union demands action

Informal street vending in Cuernavaca, the capital of Morelos, has surged by 200‑300% in recent months, with many vendors arriving from Puebla and the State of Mexico. The influx has saturated streets such as Guerrero, Matamoros, Clavijero and Cuauhtémoc, crowding out long‑standing local merchants and raising the risk of conflicts over public space.

Ben Hur Hernández Bringas, leader of the Nuevo Grupo Sindical federation, urged the municipal and state governments to create a transparent registry of vendors, clarify legal permits, and implement an urgent reordering of the public thoroughfare. The union stresses that historic vendors with long‑standing permits should not be removed, but that clear rules are needed to prevent illegal stalls, logo cloning, and the issuance of questionable permits by previous administrations.