Military-Society Tensions Escalate in Quintana Roo

QUINTANA ROO, Mexico — The deterioration of the relationship between military forces and society in Quintana Roo began when the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador decided to expose the institution to the fluctuations of its domestic policy to advance its infrastructure projects like the Maya Train, a situation that was exacerbated by indiscriminate expropriations of both communal ejido lands and small private properties. The majority of these properties have been left for the usufruct of the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), which was pulled from its task of safeguarding national sovereignty to dedicate itself to construction.

Citizen trust in this institution has diminished because, in addition to the above, the federal government declared that the works executed by SEDENA would be of national security, which formed a veil around the multi-million peso budget assigned to the military institution's construction tasks, meaning it is not obligated to transparency or accountability.

Citizen discontent has been on the rise as it became gradually known that SEDENA, with López Obrador's approval, dedicated itself to various constructions parallel to the Maya Train without complying with environmental protection regulations. Among the cases to mention is a hotel in the middle of the jungle, for which it never requested the corresponding permits, as well as the construction of a military rest house on the Laguna de Bacalar, work that began without authorization and against the will of the community.

The Jaguar Park in Tulum is another franchise of SEDENA, where the military took over public beaches, the reserve, and the archaeological zone to charge visitors. However, this past weekend the distancing between society and the military escalated on the island of Cozumel, where dissatisfied residents threw stones and set fire to the surveillance booth and the facade of the facilities of the Secretariat of National Defense Garrison, after a nine-year-old girl was heard running and screaming that she had been sexually assaulted by a soldier.

The girl, an alleged victim who sells pork rinds in the downtown area of the island, was identified and aided by passersby, who called on the population to protest in front of the Military Garrison to demand justice. It was reported that the soldier took her to the housing area of the military facilities where he abused her.

Upon learning of the incident on the island, dozens of people gathered in front of the military facilities and began throwing stones, sticks, and Molotov cocktails, setting the surveillance booth and part of the facade on fire. Other people destroyed and looted the Defensamx store located within the military facilities.

One of the commanders, Brigadier General Armando Toscano Yáñez, came out to dialogue with the crowd, to whom he promised a thorough investigation; however, the disturbances continued.

During the protests, detonations of firearms were heard inside the Military Garrison to disperse the crowd, resulting in one woman suffering superficial injuries. She was transported to a hospital, where it was confirmed her life was not in danger.

The disturbances spread to other points on the island of Cozumel, and during the early hours of Sunday, the windows and doors of the offices of the State Attorney General, located on 65th Avenue, were destroyed. Additionally, at least two convenience stores suffered damage from the crowd.

The girl was taken to a hospital where she received medical and psychological attention. The citizen protest continued for several hours on Sunday in front of the Military Garrison in Cozumel.

The State Attorney General's Office reported the detention of a soldier identified as Jairo, "for his possible relation to events following allegations of possible acts of sexual abuse, to the detriment of a female victim, a minor, whose identity is reserved."

But the social discontent this past weekend was not only in Cozumel; it was also seen in Tulum, where a group of neighbors and environmental activists blocked the federal highway. For a large part of Sunday, inhabitants of Tulum protested the privatization of the beaches and the archaeological zone of Tulum. After expressing their outrage and fatigue over the abuses by elements of the Secretariat of National Defense, the institution that administers the Jaguar Park, they decided to block vehicular traffic.

The discontent is due to "the bleeding" of the economy of tourists and tourism service providers, caused by the high fees to enter the park. The citizen protest began at ten o'clock on the morning of Sunday, August 31, and until 20:00 hours it was still continuing on the highway, waiting for the arrival of some authority to dialogue. They warned that if the federal government does not attend to their demands, the blockade will continue. They are allowing the passage of emergency units.

During the day, a group of National Guard elements attempted to evict the protesters, but the state agents were run off from the location.

Also in Tulum, on Saturday, August 30, workers of the "Mundo Maya Tulum" hotel, administered by Grupo Mundo Maya, a company of the Secretariat of National Defense, held a protest in front of the establishment's facilities to denounce poor labor treatment and acts of harassment by one of the establishment's managers.

One of the complaints is presented against Marco Antonio Torres Martínez, assistant rooms manager, whom the staff accuses of performing his functions with despotism and inflexibility, to the point of incurring workplace harassment. His treatment towards female and male employees has deteriorated the work environment and generated constant conflicts.

María del Carmen Ruiz López, one of the dissatisfied employees from the public services area, said she was forced by Torres Martínez to attend a training course, despite having informed him that she could not attend because she was on the verge of an asthmatic episode. However, she was pressured to present herself, but during the course she began to feel unwell and had to leave the venue because she could not breathe. She commented that a colleague had to go get her inhaler from her locker to prevent her from having a full-blown attack.

What is happening in Quintana Roo regarding the coexistence of the military with society must be observed by the highest instances of the federal and state governments to avoid a confrontation with regrettable consequences.