Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, June 22, 2026 – The beach area around El Caballito at Playa Los Muertos has a new group of local stewards after LGBT+ collectives, SEMARNAT, and Puerto Vallarta’s municipal government formalized an adoption effort for the landmark.
The initiative places one of the city’s most visible meeting points into regular community care, with cleanup days, environmental awareness work, and public activities planned for the stretch of sand around the sculpture.
The goal is not to close off the area. The city’s public message framed the work around keeping the space “clean, inclusive, and safe” for residents and visitors who use Los Muertos every day.
A public beach with a community caretaker
The adoption was made official during a Saturday morning cleanup on June 20. SEMARNAT delivered a formal adoption certificate, and about 20 people from the local LGBTQ+ community took part in the first cleanup effort, including members of Puerto Vallarta’s diversity council and Pamela Vicencio, head of SEMARNAT’s Ecosystems and Environments Unit.
The area is expected to see periodic cleanups, awareness activities, recreational events, health and wellness gatherings, and cultural uses tied to community participation.
Playa Los Muertos is not just a tourist stop. It is a working beach, a neighborhood gathering place, a water-taxi corridor, a nightlife gateway, and one of the most visible public spaces in the Romantic Zone.
How it fits into Mexico’s beach cleanup push
The adoption also connects Puerto Vallarta to SEMARNAT’s broader Adopta una playa program, part of Mexico’s 2025–2030 national strategy to reduce beach and coastal pollution. The program brings together government, civil society, and private groups to prevent and reverse contamination along Mexico’s coastline.
SEMARNAT’s national cleanup strategy has reported more than 2,900 kilometers of coastline attended, 1,363 tons of waste collected, and 815 cleanup and conservation days during its first year. The agency also reported volunteer participation across more than 400 beaches in 113 municipalities.
For Puerto Vallarta, that national push has already touched Los Muertos. Earlier this year, Mexico’s Navy joined a beach cleanup push in Puerto Vallarta, including work at Playa Los Muertos.
Know El Caballito
El Caballito sits in one of the city’s busiest beach corridors, close to the pier, restaurants, beach clubs, vendors, and the heart of Puerto Vallarta’s LGBTQ+ visitor economy. The city’s official tourism guide lists Los Muertos among Puerto Vallarta’s main beaches, while its LGBT travel page highlights the Zona Romántica as a key part of the city’s identity for LGBTQ+ visitors.
That makes this adoption more than a volunteer cleanup schedule. It is a small but visible shift in who helps care for a public space that many people use, but few formally help maintain.
Puerto Vallarta’s LGBTQ+ community already plays a major role in the city’s tourism, nightlife, business, and cultural life. PVDN tracks those issues through its Puerto Vallarta LGBTQ+ news hub, including Pride, public space, safety, business, and community advocacy.
