Maya Train’s Environmental Damage Sparks Calls for Cancellation

Mérida, Mexico — A panel discussion titled "Voices of Territorial Defense Against the Maya Train" will take place on Wednesday, May 21, at 10 a.m. at the Cephcis of UNAM’s Rendón Peniche campus. The event precedes a June 4 hearing in the First District Court regarding an injunction against the railway’s environmental impacts.

Organizers aim to amplify opposition to the project and push for its cancellation, citing irreversible ecological damage. The discussion will feature experts and activists who have documented the train’s effects across five states.

Legal and Environmental Challenges

Viridiana Maldonado, a representative of the organization Tierra Vida, stated that her group has spent five years fighting the project.

“This began in late 2019 and has been a long, complex process,” Maldonado said. “Now, on June 4, the judge will have the opportunity to thoroughly review the case and evaluate all the evidence we’ve presented.”

She explained that activists collaborated with researchers to compile a three-year study on the train’s environmental consequences, which was submitted to the court last year.

Broader Implications of the Project

The federal government has framed the Maya Train as a territorial reorganization initiative, but critics argue it enables unchecked development.

“This project includes tourism infrastructure, complementary works, development hubs, highways, hotels, and industrial projects,” Maldonado noted. “To carry these out, large tracts of tropical forests in the Yucatán Peninsula, Tabasco, and Chiapas have been cleared, resulting in irreversible land-use changes.”

The panel will also screen the documentary Una herida en el sur (A Wound in the South). Other participants include Rodrigo Llanes, a researcher at Cephcis, and Roberto Sánchez, a lawyer with the human rights organization Kanan.

Admission to the event is free.