Mexican justice again suspends the construction of the "Mayan train"

Mexican President Andres Manuel Obrador during the laying of the foundation stone of the Maya train in El Ideal on June 1, 2020. AFP - ELIZABETH RUIZ

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This 1,500 kilometer railway line must cross the entire Yucatan peninsula in five states.

Wanted by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the "Mayan train" is also strongly rejected by part of the population and environmentalists.

Several legal battles are underway and a new definitive suspension of work has just been pronounced Monday by a court in Yucatan on the section planned on the Caribbean between Tulum and Cancun. 

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With our correspondent in Mexico,

Gwendolina Duval

This decision implies the immediate suspension of the works which are in progress on the fifth section of the “Mayan train”.

This is a victory for the environmental protection association which defended this procedure.

The judge argued that Fonatur, the organization charged by the government with carrying out the work, did not have the necessary permits, for lack of a sufficient environmental impact study.

This second judicial decision by the same court in the State of Yucatan once again slows down the progress of the construction site.

However, this definitive suspension does not in any way mean the cancellation of the Maya train.

Indeed, last May, after the first similar decision, President Andres Manuel Obrador declared its achievement as a work of interest for national security.

This decree somehow secures the project legally and has also allowed work to resume after a three-month interruption.

Despite the controversy, the Mexican government has not the slightest intention of backtracking: it has just ordered the expropriation of more than one million square meters of land in the same area, some with dwellings, in order to be able to continue the construction of the project. 

►Also listen: Mexico, its beaches and its Mayan train

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