Monday, September 15, 2025

Mayan activists reject train and megaprojects on Yucatán peninsula

Mayan activists on the Yucatán peninsula have raised their voices against megaprojects in the region, including the Maya Train.

A meeting yesterday in Dziuche, Quintana Roo, brought together seven organizations and 33 community leaders from Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo under the slogan “resistance in defense of the territory.”

They contend that the development of megaprojects on the peninsula means stripping their lands, deforestation and contamination of water and food, affects productive activities such as beekeeping, causes health problems and threatens their culture and traditions.

“It is nothing new that they kill our bees, steamroll over our lands or violate our rights; what is new is that the will to defend what is left of our territory has been born. A movement is being born in the Yucatán peninsula,” declared Pedro Uc, an activist and teacher from the region.

“In Campeche, where [the construction of] the Maya Train is going to start, the Chinese are going to acquire — if they haven’t already done so — large expanses of land . . . the first thing the Maya Train will bring will be enormous amounts of Chinese capital,” added Alberto Cahuich, a member of the José María Morelos Maya Indigenous Council,  a social organization created and introduced yesterday during the meeting.

He was scornful of the public consultation by the federal government to gauge opinion on the Maya Train project, calling it a farce and stating that most participants in the process knew nothing about it.

Meanwhile, the train has support from some communal landowners in the ejidos that are on the route. At least three of the 30 —Bacalar, Chetumal and Playa del Carmen — have expressed support for the project and offered land for it.

Source: El Universal (sp), El Economista (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.

Ghouls, ghosts and…Grandma? Mexican perspectives on aging

0
Far from being packed off to live in a home, elderly people in Mexico remain a focal point of family life — and a respected one too.
A soldier records the passage of Armed Forces helicopters during rehearsals for the Military Air Parade marking the 215th anniversary of the start of the Mexican War of Independence

Mexico’s week in review: Market confidence, China tariff hikes and military scandal

0
Other headlines included a move by Peru to declare Mexico's president a persona non grata, a one-year high for the peso and fatal roadway accidents that left over 100 people wounded.
News quiz

The MND News Quiz of the Week: September 13th

1
Trash, tariffs and tourism: Have you been following the news this week?
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity