Talking about what happens is a risk. The report reports on several environmental defenders who are threatened and persecuted; of dispossession and human rights violations.
“It seems like Campeche is a very quiet place, but the truth is that it’s not anymore,” he lamented.
Lázaro Sánchez, a member of the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center, observes that violence in the southeast increased from 2021 and reached Chiapas, despite the fact that the National Guard placed 10 of its headquarters in the state.
“At the same time as it is militarized, at the same time as organized crime increases, displacement, disappearances, and executions also increase,” he noted. “Under the guise of development, people continue to be dispossessed,” he added.
Giovanna Gasparello agrees. She is a researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the second government institution that most promotes the Mayan Train. However, it recognizes that this megaproject is accompanied by a “systematic violation of the human rights of the communities”, without there being institutional mechanisms for complaints or denunciations.
The military presence, far from producing security for the inhabitants, created a climate of defenselessness and maintains control of public spaces. He stated that the beaches, squares and other places are fenced. The population does not access them without passing through various filters guarded by armed people.
“Under the pretext of patrolling and maintaining security, there is already a presence of armed actors from supermarkets to public squares, beaches. Any public space is militarized,” he declared.
No justice
During the presentation of the report, Viridiana Maldonado, from the Terra Vida collective, recalled that the project was carried out without adequate environmental impacts. Those that were issued were done in a fragmented manner.
The dozens of injunctions filed failed to stop the operation of the Mayan Train, due to a series of obstacles in justice, ranging from delaying hearings and losing files to ignoring evidence.
With the arrival of the new judges, elected by popular vote after the judicial reform, they do not see a solution either. Not even if the new minister of the Supreme Court of Justice, Hugo Aguilar, is an indigenous representative.
The organizations accuse the minister of contributing to holding irregular consultations on the Mayan Train in the communities.
“We don’t really expect anything from him, especially with this judicial reform. We are totally abandoned,” said Guillermo D’Christy.
Due to all the damage, the group of specialists insists that it is necessary to cancel the project, which the authorities are seeking to extend to Guatemala.
The International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature agrees with them. In September it issued a resolution endorsing the violation of the right to a healthy environment. Francesco Martone, judge of that body, explained that the ruling was sent to President Claudia Sheinbaum and the Secretary of the Environment, Alicia Bárcena, but they have not yet received communication about it.
Bárcena declared a few months ago that a restoration plan would be designed for the areas affected by the Mayan Train, in dialogue with civil society. These organizations have not been called yet.
