MTV canceled plans on Wednesday to stage its Latin American music-video awards ceremony on Mexico?s Caribbean coast after Hurricane Wilma battered the area. The show was first postponed just hours before it was scheduled to start near the beach resort of Playa del Carmen on October 19 as Wilma?s ferocious winds and rains lashed the coast. MTV said then it still hoped to hold the 2005 awards on Mexico?s ?Maya Riviera?, but gave up the effort on Wednesday.

?A show of this magnitude and complexity requires a great deal of planning and many months to organize, making it impossible for us to accomplish in only six weeks,? it said in a statement. Wilma caused major damage to hotels, beaches, stores and homes along the Caribbean coast and a month later the huge resort of Cancun is virtually empty.

Tourism industry chiefs hope to have Cancun up and running again by mid-December but it is still in a sorry state with beaches stripped of sand, hotel windows knocked out and its palm trees toppled or stripped bare. Playa del Carmen is in better shape but the Xcaret theme park where the MTV event was to be held is still closed.

The 2005 awards will now be announced on a TV show in December and MTV said it would explore possibilities of holding next year?s event somewhere on Mexico?s Caribbean coast. Colombian pop star Shakira was expected to sweep the awards with several nominations, including Best Female Artist.