More than 500 women gathered at La Paz’s El Piojillo municipal sports complex on Wednesday for the city’s first zumbathon of 2026, a mass fitness event organized by the municipal government to promote physical activity and community presence in public spaces.
Mayor Quiroga Leads Event During National Peace Days
La Paz Mayor Milena Quiroga Romero led the event, which fell under Mexico’s national Jornadas por La Paz (Peace Days) initiative. The mass zumba class drew participants of all ages, though women made up the overwhelming majority of attendees.
Quiroga used the occasion to point to her administration’s investment in recreational infrastructure. El Piojillo, located in central La Paz, was previously a baseball-only facility. The city converted it into a full sports complex with multiple activity areas. Quiroga also noted that her administration has improved 60 parks across the municipality during her time in office.
60 Parks Upgraded Across La Paz Municipality
The zumbathon is part of a broader municipal strategy that ties fitness programming to public safety goals. The logic is straightforward: well-maintained parks and sports facilities that draw regular crowds become safer through consistent community use. La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur with a metropolitan population of roughly 300,000, has invested in this approach as an alternative to purely enforcement-based security measures.
El Piojillo sits in one of La Paz’s more established neighborhoods, not far from the downtown core. The complex now hosts soccer, basketball, and group fitness classes in addition to its original baseball diamond. Free municipal fitness events like the zumbathon have become a regular feature of city programming, typically held on weekends or holidays.
The city’s 60-park renovation effort has included new lighting, playground equipment, and walking paths in colonias across La Paz. Improved lighting in particular has been a recurring request from residents concerned about safety after dark.
The next round of municipal fitness events has not yet been announced, but the city has held multiple zumbathons per year since Quiroga took office. The event was first reported by BCS Noticias.