Maya Train Seizes Land in Quintana Roo

Cancún, Mexico — The Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu) has announced that private lands in Benito Juárez, Puerto Morelos, Tulum, and Felipe Carrillo Puerto in Quintana Roo will be expropriated for reasons of "public utility." The lands are destined for the construction of public infrastructure works related to the Maya Train Project.

The justification provided is that the Maya Train will function as a humanitarian corridor through which food, medical, and other support will be delivered to indigenous communities and marginalized towns in southeastern Mexico. It is stated that the train will have a constant flow and will be the only means to reach these towns promptly and effectively. Likewise, due to its geographic location, it is deemed fundamental for safeguarding the coasts and the border zone with Central America.

Sedatu will expropriate lands in the five states through which the Maya Train passes. In the case of Quintana Roo, six properties totaling 23,940.10 square meters are affected. The federal agency detailed the areas by municipality: Benito Juárez (Cancún), 19,925.41 m²; Puerto Morelos, 6.60 m²; Tulum, 1,694 m²; and Felipe Carrillo Puerto, 2,313.50 m².

The document signed by the head of Sedatu, Edna Elena Vega Rangel, states: "The development of the Maya Train Project is declared a matter of public utility; in the municipalities of Palenque in the state of Chiapas; Candelaria, Champotón, Campeche and Dzitbalché in the state of Campeche; Balancán in the state of Tabasco; Izamal, Chocholá and Tinum in the state of Yucatán; Benito Juárez, Puerto Morelos, Tulum and Felipe Carrillo Puerto in the state of Quintana Roo, which will materialize in the construction of public infrastructure works on the properties that total a surface area of 51,187.83 m² (fifty-one thousand one hundred and eighty-seven point eighty-three square meters), corresponding to 21 (twenty-one) privately owned properties detailed below, required for the construction of said public infrastructure work."