International Tribunal to Assess Environmental and Social Impacts of Maya Train Project

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — An international tribunal will present findings on the environmental and social impacts of the Maya Train project next week, nearly three years after the federal megaproject’s completion.

The International Earth Tribunal will hold a seminar on April 14 at the Autonomous University of Quintana Roo (Uqroo) in Chetumal to discuss the project’s effects across the Yucatan Peninsula. The event will specifically address non-compliance with suspension orders for Section 5 of the railway.

Speakers include José Urbina Bravo, founder of Sélvame MX, who previously secured a two-month work stoppage on the project through a legal injunction in 2023. The seminar will begin at 9 a.m. in the Yuri Knórozov Auditorium on the university’s main campus.

In its announcement, the tribunal stated: “The severity of these impacts has been recently confirmed: in February, a Mexican federal court ordered the definitive suspension of actions in Section 5, establishing environmental verification and protection measures. This section was central to the Tribunal’s ruling, which documented irreversible damage to jungle systems, cenotes, and caves, reinforcing the urgency of guaranteeing ecosystem protection and the rights of Maya communities.”

The International Earth Tribunal previously visited the Yorogana caves in Playa del Carmen in 2023 as part of legal proceedings against the federal project held in Valladolid, Yucatan. That same year, the tribunal declared the project had an “ethnocidal” character due to its impact on indigenous communities in the region.

While the tribunal’s findings lack direct legal authority, it has called on the Mexican government to heed recommendations from international specialists.