Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, November 12, 2026 – A court has barred Puerto Vallarta’s former planning director, Juan Manuel “N,” from leaving Mexico as the criminal case over the construction permit for Isla 115, the condo building evacuated after the September 2022 earthquake, proceeds.
At a hearing on Nov 9 he was given three days to hand over his passport and ordered to check in with the compliance unit once a month. The court also prohibited him from holding any public sector employment.
The order requires him to keep away from any witnesses and anyone identified as a victim in the case. Any contact must be through his lawyers, and if he comes across any of them, he must leave immediately.
The Fiscalía Anticorrupción de Jalisco has appealed the previous decision, which had effectively stayed the case. Under a federal court order, the Supremo Tribunal de Justicia del Estado de Jalisco has allowed the prosecution to proceed on charges of abuse of authority and misuse of official powers. Prosecutors say Juan Manuel “N” approved the permit for the 46-unit project without the required reviews.
What was missing from the permit file
Isla 115 is at 115 Calle Doctor Mike Lemus in Zona Hotelera Norte (off Boulevard Francisco Medina Ascencio). Puerto Vallarta issued construction permit 5328/16 on 11th January 2017 under the administration of then-Mayor Arturo Dávalos Peña.
Vallarta Hoy’s September coverage of the court records identified two approvals as being the work of Juan Manuel “N”. In October 2016, he approved the project subject to it meeting the city’s land use requirements. The following January, he signed off on the authorization for construction to proceed.
In 2023, when city staff went through the paper and electronic files, they found 62 pages and four plans. They could not locate the four required reports covering structural safety, soil conditions and structural calculations, the municipal environmental review, and the traffic impact. The missing soil and structural records are part of the case Vallarta Daily previously reported on regarding the seismic rules for the Puerto Vallarta condo towers.
The earthquake that brought the permit under scrutiny
The city issued a Certificate of Occupancy in July 2018. The building was evacuated after the September 19, 2022 earthquake, which damaged it. City inspectors subsequently found damage to a load-bearing column and a beam in the basement garage (Tribuna de la Bahía, 2023). As of December 2022, Protección Civil was still advising people to stay out and to follow a plan to strengthen the building.
A group of owners lodged a complaint with the State Anti-Corruption Prosecutor in 2023. Some of them had actually lived in their units. Others had let them out to pay off their mortgages.
A separate federal court order in 2025 directed the city to carry out a risk assessment and a structural safety review. Urrutia Comunica reported in July of that year that Profepa had sealed the building. City payment records show that Puerto Vallarta paid the balance of the safety studies in November.
In the criminal case, the court has given the prosecutors four months to complete this phase of the investigation. The travel ban and other restrictions on Juan Manuel “N” are for six months.
