@La Jornada Maya
It is the pet project of the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: The Maya Train. With a maximum expenditure of 308 billion pesos and a total route of approximately 1,500 kilometers, this project aims to open “a series of opportunities for trade and social development, benefiting the local population and companies and national and international tourism”, in order to improve the economy of the south of the country.
However, from the beginning, voices have also been heard against the megaproject due to its environmental and cultural impacts: “It will cross at least ten protected natural areas in southeast Mexico and 1,400 indigenous communities.” The First District Judge of Yucatan, Adrian Fernando Novelo Perez, also knows this, who, due to the lack of environmental studies and authorizations and the irreversible damage to caverns, cenotes and underground rivers, granted the provisional suspension on April 18th, 2022, of Section 5 South of the megaproject which goes from Playa del Carmen to Tulum, as reported by the civil association Defending the Right to a Healthy Environment (DMAS).
“The First Court grants PROVISIONAL SUSPENSION to the expert cave divers for the purpose of suspending or paralyzing any act that has as its purpose the continuation of the construction of Section Five, the southern sector of the Maya Train project -with a length from Playa del Carmen to Tulum , Quintana Roo-,” DMAS wrote in its Monday announcement. On the other hand, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stated that “there is still no official notification. We do not know what it is about, only what is already in the public domain, there is a campaign against the Maya Train financed by international organizations and by Mexican businessmen for political purposes, not environmental ones”, he explained from the National Palace.
For more information in Spanish:
Juez suspende tramo 5 del Tren Maya por no contar con estudio de impacto ambiental (Educa, 18 de april de 2022)
Tren Maya. Juzgado en Yucatán frena, por ahora, obras del Tramo 5 Sur (El Uniersal, 18 de april de 2022)
El Tren Maya va, reitera AMLO tras orden de suspensión del tramo 5 Sur (La Jornada Maya, 19 de april de 2022)
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