Mayan communities of Campeche deliver 268 thousand signatures against the Mayan Train.

The protesters stated that the Mayan People did not decide the Mayan Train project, but that the name seeks to appropriate their indigenous cultural denomination. They have requested that the authorization for the Environmental Impact Statement of the Mayan Train in its Phase 1 be denied.

MEXICO CITY (Times Media Mexico) – Inhabitants of Calakmul, Campeche delivered a letter to the delegation of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) in the state, requesting the denial of the authorization of the Environmental Impact Statement of the Mayan Train in its Phase 1, which is currently under evaluation by the General Directorate of Risk and Environmental Impact (DGIRA).

Members of the Regional Indigenous Council of Xpujil (CRIPX) denounced that “the project was presented in a fragmented manner, which prevents it from being evaluated integrally, and that the communities have not been given timely and sufficient information to give their consent.

The letter was accompanied by more than 268,000 signatures requesting the Mayan Train’s definitive suspension, collected through the international platform Save the Jungle. 

“The Mayan Train project was not decided by the Mayan People, nor by any other Mexican indigenous people, but rather the name seeks to appropriate the indigenous cultural denomination of the Mayan People, to make it more friendly. It is included in the National Development Plan (PND). However, there is little official information available at this time since the integral Executive Project has not been made public,” they stated in the document.

 “Because of the little we know, the Mayan Train project and the related works imply numerous risks and environmental impacts to the entire Mexican southeast, an area where we live, of high biological richness and importance for the conservation and protection of the Mayan forest, the aquifer, and biodiversity,” they warned.

The dissatisfied persons emphasized that the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) itself warned that “the project will impact various municipalities in Chiapas and Tabasco, the high jungles, the swamps, and savannas; in the Yucatan Peninsula it will impact the largest jungle massifs and in a better state of conservation in Mexico and Mesoamerica, areas with mangroves and other wetlands.”

They added that the promoting authority, in this case, the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur), has not presented a comprehensive project, which includes all the elements covered by the Mayan Train project, as required by Article 28 of the General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA), but has done so in a fragmented manner.

“Thus, for example, the locations, dimensions, impacts, and mitigation measures proposed for the creation of the contemplated development poles are unknown, as well as the status of the procedure for authorizations and safeguard measures regarding archaeological sites before the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH),” they stated.