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Madonna’s new gym in Mexico City lacks permits

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Pop superstar Madonna caused a stir in Mexico City this week when she arrived to inaugurate her first gym, but the borough chief where she opened Hard Candy Fitness said Wednesday that the singer’s venture lacks the proper permits to operate (link in Spanish).

Demetrio Sodi, who is a kind of mayor in the Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City, said Madonna’s gym obtained a permit for the glittery inauguration party it held on Monday night, but has no other permits necessary to open.

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‘They only let us know Friday that they were going to have an inauguration, and when we had a meeting, they didn’t have a single permit ... to operate,’ Sodi said in a television interview. ‘No protection program, no license, not even a certificate assuring they have parking.’

Madonna chose Mexico City to launch what her website said will be a worldwide chain of gyms containing her ‘input on every detail.’ The gym opened in the swanky and exclusive Bosques de las Lomas neighborhood in Miguel Hidalgo, the city’s wealthiest borough. Mondays night’s inauguration (see photos here) featured a red carpet and was attended by Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard.

Attempts to reach California-based New Evolution Ventures, Madonna’s partner company in the venture, for comment were unsuccessful.

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

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