Tren Maya’s Environmental and Social Impacts Detailed

The Civil Observation Mission 2025 on the impacts of the Tren Maya presented its damage report, which highlighted “serious and irreversible violations of human and collective rights” in sections 5, 6, and 7 in Campeche and Quintana Roo.

The report is the result of a tour conducted by specialists and organizations in April of this year to document the transformations of communities intervened and traversed by the Tren Maya.

The first list of damages was in environmental matters, especially damage to cenotes and the excessive logging of trees, according to researcher Guillermo D. Christy.

“In sections 5, 6, and 7 alone, 20 million trees were cut down, trees that are not just units but an ecosystem that was completely wiped out, millions of bird nests destroyed; also, the biological corridor in the northern jungle of Quintana Roo was totally compromised; the environmental impact statements lied and never acknowledged the presence of the jaguar,” he said.

Another impact is the direct presence of military forces throughout the area, which, in addition to operating the train, “are engaging in incipient tourism businesses” through a parastatal company called Mundo Maya, detailed anthropologist Giovanna Gasparello. “The military presence has materialized in the control and occupation of public spaces, under the pretext of patrolling and maintaining security; there is already a presence of armed actors from supermarkets to plazas and beaches, any public place is militarized, this, instead of giving a perception of security, generates defenselessness and fear,” said the INAH researcher.

She detailed that the Tren Maya has generated landfills and water and electrical imbalances in the communities of Campeche, as well as various frauds by the Sedena.

She added that there is no way to report these problems because there is no other authority than the Army. “These are very serious violations of human rights, arbitrary action is widespread and is covered by a state of exception, following the declaration of the Tren Maya as a National Security project, thus allowing them to bypass all obligations.”

Even more serious, she said, criminal violence has surged. “Illegal economies linked to drug trafficking and networks of human trafficking and prostitution, which offer services to the military and floating workers, have expanded in the area, configuring a decomposition of the social fabric that the government must address.”