Permission Error on softlink is wrong

I stopped the server, installed with yum, moved /var/lib/mysql to /data/mysql, created a softlink
cd /var/lib
ln -s /data/mysql .
the I did the usual chown -R mysql:mysql mysql
but I still keep getting this error. This is a valid and common operation y regular mysql, to reload the data directory to another drive.

[ERROR] mysqld: Can't create/write to file '/var/lib/mysql/aria_log_control' (Errcode: 13 "Permission denied")
[ERROR] mysqld: Got error 'Can't create file' when trying to use aria control file '/var/lib/mysql/aria_log_control'
[ERROR] Plugin 'Aria' init function returned error.
[ERROR] Plugin 'Aria' registration as a STORAGE ENGINE failed.