The opposition to next week’s Concert of a Thousand Columns, starring Placido Domingo, have given up all hope of stopping the concert, but in true Mexican political style, they still complain.

Archaeologists, anthropologists and other members of La Asamblea de Investigadores del INAH, the union of academics within the federal agency that oversees Mexico’s ancient ruins, called for Plácido Domingo to “not be complicit in an act contrary to Mexican law.” Earlier this month the union expressed its belief that the concert violates federal agreements and laws covering historic buildings.

Over the weekend, members of the Yucatan branch of the union protested at Chichen Itza, decrying the concert as “an event for the elite.”

“The cultural heritage is not for sale and archaeological monuments are for the education of the people,” said Cecilia Genel Velasco, a member of the executive committee of the national union.

The professionals said that they have not seen a permit from INAH to authorize the gala, and the strange silence of the authorities, making them think that there is some complicity. However, Jorge Esma Bazan, director of Cultur, the state agency that is overseeing the concert, has repeatedly stated that there is an agreement between the state government and INAH.

The INAH professional union recognizes that it is almost impossible to stop the event and called upon the public not to become accomplices of an elitist event that, in his view, has nothing to education and that does not benefit the archaeological site.

For previous stories about Placido Domingo and the Concert of a Thousand Column, click HERE.