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Luis Ernesto Munguía, president-elect of Puerto Vallarta, met with three different groups of community and business leaders in Zona Romantica on September 3, 2024.
Munguía, 39, will take office as the new President of Puerto Vallarta on Oct. 1, 2024. He has said that his first 100 days would be focused on improving the issues with water supply, garbage collection and road improvement.
While Munguía didn’t formally address any of the groups, he did speak individually with probably more than 30 different business and community leaders, and took photos with most of them. An informal poll of those leaders indicated that their main concerns of the incoming administration was to take care of the large number of homeless people roaming the streets; addressing infrastructure issues and removing non-operative vehicles that sit on the streets, taking up valuable parking spaces.
The LGBTQ+ community is important to Munguía and Puerto Vallarta’s success – if only in an economic sense. We previously have reported that in 2023, the city welcomed a staggering 2 million LGBTQ+ tourists, generating a record-breaking $17 billion pesos for the local economy.
The different meetings with Munguía were arranged by Joseph Liimatta and Sol Reyes, founders of XPRESSTV MX. They had worked with the Munguía campaign providing StarLink internet services at various events, and asked for the meetings to introduce the incoming mayor to the small business community and many LGBTQ+ business owners.
Munguía started his meet and greet at Jardin Café Lounge, hosted by Warren Wesley Weir and Carlos Aguayo. Included in the guests were Carlos Plascencia and Alfredo Soria, representatives for Vallarta Pride, who were eager to discuss their plans with Munguía.
He then went to Act2PV Theater, hosted by Alfonso Lopez and Oscar Cisneros and David Sabella, where he took a tour of the facilities and then joined guests to enjoy sushi from Yamada Sushi and cocktails in Mary Ann’s Ovations Piano Bar.
Munguía left Act2PV and headed to Daiquiri Dick’s Restaurant, hosted by Wayne Elias and Javier Javier Jiménez. There he went around and spoke with many of the restaurant guests and then met with some of the leaders from the Vallarta Gay+ Community Center, including Pedro Lopez, its executive director and board members Jet De la Isla and Matt Karimi.
Reyes, the current Voice of Vallarta and former Colombian beauty and folklore queen, said they wanted Mayor-elect Munguía to engage with local business owners and establish a positive relationship with the LGBTQ+ community.
“Our goal was for each entrepreneur to have a few minutes to greet and engage in conversation with the President-elect,” Reyes said.
Photos by Oscar Almeida
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