First modification:
The Mexican president questioned the decision of a Yucatan judge to provisionally block the construction of section 5 of the Mayan Train for not having the environmental permits to carry it out. The project generated controversy from the beginning, activists and environmentalists warn that it would destroy the largest underground river system in the world, and with them its flora and fauna.
A setback for the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. On Monday, a Yucatan judge temporarily suspended the construction of section 5 of the Mayan Train, which runs from Playa del Carmen to Tulum, in Quintana Roo, due to lack of environmental impact authorization.
The president questioned the magistrate’s decision in his daily press conference on Tuesday and assured that there is “a campaign against the Mayan Train, financed by international organizations and businessmen” that have “political” and “non-environmentalist” purposes.
López Obrador pointed out in particular to the “Government of the United States” of financing “groups that act in Mexico contrary to us,” as well as environmental groups.
The head of state of the Aztec country insists that the construction “does not affect any cenote, nor the underground river”, however, the road construction began without having environmental authorization and its progress has already deforested more than a kilometer of jungle.
Indeed, he assured that he will “wait to see what the Yucatan authorities are demanding” in order to “find a way to defend ourselves legally.”
However, he confessed that while the Judiciary resolves the case, “the train is going”, since “they have not yet received legal notification” of the suspension of the construction of the train. He also ruled out other repercussions.
A project criticized by activists and artists
The controversial work in the southeast of the country has sparked controversy since its inception, with indigenous groups and environmentalists who have opposed the various sections.
After a modification of the route of section 5, which initially had to pass through Playa del Carmen but was changed after complaints from hoteliers who feared that the work and subsequent infrastructure would impact their businesses, the current deviation will pass through land containing caves, cenotes and underground rivers.
The modification of the route aroused protests from Greenpeace activists, as well as celebrities such as Eugenio Derbez and Kate del Castillo. They denounce that the work would destroy the largest underground river system in the world, and with it its flora and fauna, something that the president denies.
The Mayan Train is a priority project on López Obrador’s agenda. Some 200,000 million pesos, that is, around 10,000 million dollars, have been invested to build about 1,554 kilometers in the five states of the southeast: Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
with EFE
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