Greenpeace activists chained themselves to machinery that builds the Maya Train

Activists from the international organization Greenpeace, along with other collectives, symbolically chained themselves to the machinery used to build section 5 of the Maya Train, at the height of Playa del Carmen, in the Mexican Caribbean.

Although the mobilization was peaceful, several patrols from the National Guard, the Municipal Police and even the Attorney General's Office arrived at the scene, after emergency number 911 received a report of disturbances, as activists chained themselves to heavy machinery to prevent further work of clearing the jungle.

Aleida Lara, Director of Campaigns at Greenpeace Mexico, told Efe that the immobilization of machinery is to draw the attention of the President of the Republic to stop the works and respect the legal framework.

“This work is being carried out without a manifestation of environmental impact, which is in violation of the General Law on Ecological Balance and Protection of the Environment (Lgeepa), in which articles 170 to 174 establish sanctions in the event of a non-demonstration or in cases of non-compliance,” he said.

As a result of the announcement of a change of route due to protests by business organizations - mainly hoteliers - that opposed the passage of the Maya Train on the highway connecting Cancun to the Riviera Maya, work on clearing inland jungle is progressing rapidly.

“We are asking for respect for the country's legal framework, because otherwise the environmental devastation will be advancing thousands of kilometers, and now, to this day there are more than 30 kilometers of jungle by 60 meters wide,” added Lara.

For the Greenpeace spokeswoman, the project is totally unviable and represents a risk.

“The entire Peninsula is an area of importance for the conservation of the biodiversity of our country, this area in particular, has great alerts, to begin with the karst, porous soil, represents an unstable space for the construction of a train,” he explained.

Aleida Lara considered that, given the series of violations of environmental legislation in force in the country, it is necessary to stop this section of the works.

“The Maya Train section, section 5, is not viable. This stage is an iconic chaos, it is against the law,” he reiterated.

The intervention of Greenpeace and other local environmental groups began shortly after five o'clock in the morning on Monday, March 28, right on the stretch that workers of the Maya Train know internally as “Calica” because it locates in an area close to where the transnational stone material extraction company operates.

As part of the protest, Greenpeace unfolded a blanket with the message “Protect the Mayan Jungle”, while several activists chained themselves to bulldozers and bulldozers to prevent them from being operated on this day.

The Mayan Train is one of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's most important mega-works with an investment of around 200 billion pesos (about 9.3 billion dollars) to build nearly 1,554 kilometers of railways in the five southeastern states: Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo.

Stage 5 was recently criticized by a group of celebrities - such as actors Eugenio Derbez or Kate del Castillo - on social networks, who promoted the “Sélvame del Tren” campaign, a clip that sparked a series of disqualifications by López Obrador himself and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources ( Semarnat), who described the personalities who participated in the recording as “” pseudo-environmentalists”.

In the video, which quickly went viral, those involved explained that the work of the Train would severely affect underground rivers, apart from causing serious damage to the flora and fauna of the region.

Faced with the controversy unleashed by the video, Andrés Manuel López said that the personalities who participated in the recording are “pseudo-environmentalists” and “fifis” and even said that they had received money to make the clip.

He said that those who had not received payment for their participation did so out of their own conviction, having a conservative thought and seeking fame; but, he said, were “very uninformed” about what they were denouncing. He even said that they were “clearly” reading a text.

“Some were there reading and they very clearly put one to read and say that I should know the country, I think I know it a little better than he does (...) I'm going to brag, I apologize, but I don't think there is a Mexican who knows all the municipalities of Mexico,” said AMLO at his conference last Thursday, March 24.

“I wish these celebrities learn more, don't let themselves be surprised, maybe they didn't even know what they were going to cause with what they are proposing, they were possibly used,” he said.

In response, Eugenio Derbez pointed out that he did not receive any kind of financial remuneration for having collaborated in the campaign.

“It hurts me that they disqualify him (the video) because I think the lion believes that everyone is of his condition. I don't get yellow envelopes, I don't need that. I earn my money with the sweat of my brow and I do this for the love of Mexico,” he said in an interview with journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva on Friday, March 25.

With information from EFE

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