he Maya, it appears, want nothing to do with la Tren Maya.
Incoming Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s signature campaign promise is a massive infrastructure project to create a rail corridor linking the states of the Yucatan Peninsula. The corridor would theoretically bring huge economic benefits.
But a coalition of indigenous Maya organizations of some political clout have come out as strongly opposed to the project, regardless of how the Mexican public votes in a nonbinding national referendum on whether or not to go ahead with the project.
The Maya say their primary concern is their exclusion from rail-corridor planning. This includes excluding Mayan knowledge of regional biodiversity from environmental-impact research used in project permitting.
They also call for an alternative sustainable-development plan for the region that would be developed with leadership from local Maya communities.
Source: Animal Politico (Mexico)