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Impressive and transcendent report has been presented by those who made up the Civil Observation Mission on the impacts and effects of the Mayan Train project (construction and use of the train tracks and collateral developments) in the states of Quintana Roo and Campeche, which in April 2025 made a tour of its sections 5, 6 and 7 (https://ccmss.org.mx/acervo/mision-civil-de-observacion-sobre-impactos- y-afectaciones-del-proyecto-tren-maya-informe-2025/), in order to listen to the testimony of people who inhabit the territory, grassroots organizations, researchers with field studies, water users, agricultural producers, land owners, employees of businesses associated with the train, hotels, Jaguar Park and others. Terrain reconnaissance was done, notes, photos and videos were taken.
This Civil Mission was convened by six organizations: Coordination of the National Indigenous Congress, U Kúuchil k Chiibalo’on Community Center, Regional Indigenous and Popular Council of Humans, Latin American Observatory of Geopolitics, Observatory of Multinationals in Latin America and Diverse Territories for Life. Three researchers from the UAM and INAH also participated and, as an observer, the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the request of the participating organizations.
In its 60 pages, the report provides an account, with detailed and well-founded information, of the following: 1. Growing militarization with serious socio-environmental impacts. The territorial and corporate occupation of the armed forces in the region, which is expanding rapidly, puts the rule of law, as well as the human and collective rights of the people, at risk. 2.- Exponential increase in criminal and institutional violence, linked to the “progress and development” that the Mayan Train intends to detonate. 3.- Environmental effects and ecocide due to the territorial mutations that the megaproject is promoting. 4.- Real estate speculation and dispossession of land and territory, which impact accelerated urbanization to the detriment of jungle ecosystems and the integrity of the territories, which until now have represented the livelihood of hundreds of rural communities, which will drive an increase in inequality and the exclusion of broad social sectors. 5.- Inaccessibility to justice and violations of the current legal framework. Not only has the State not been a guarantor of human rights, but it has caused their violation in various ways, including non-compliance with laws and the lack of protection of the rights of individuals and peoples. 6.- Resistant social fabric. The centrality of local organizational processes – ranging from ejidal assemblies, to groups of affected people, scientists and academics – is relevant, showing a living social fabric despite the grievances and intimidation exerted on them by the various armed subjects and the clientelistic and corporate institutional intervention.
The report denounces the dispossession of Mayan culture and identity, the destruction and looting of their archaeological heritage, the violent mutation of ways of life: Communities report loss of freedom of movement, children who cannot play in the street, constant fear, abandonment of peasant work for precarious jobs, closed clinics, unfinished aqueducts, schools occupied as barracks. Sedena not only built the train, it turned it into a business: it manages hotels, airports, museums and even charges for access to public beaches under the Grupo Mundo Maya brand. A presidential decree in 2022 declared the Mayan Train “National Security,” placing it above the rule of law. At the same time, land prices skyrocketed up to 400 percent since 2019. More than 600 real estate developments sprung up between 2023-2024, most without environmental permits. Thus, 11,482 hectares of deforested jungle are reported (only 18 percent had authorization to change land use). Fifteen thousand concrete piles pierced the world’s largest underground cave system, damaging at least 125 cenotes. More than 95 banks of materials devastated 1,500 hectares. Speleologists, biologists and hydrologists agree: the damage to the Mayan aquifer and ecosystems is irreversible. What follows is to stop the devastation that the freight train and the collateral projects are implying and urgently proceed to repair the damage and provide compensation to the communities and people affected by this megaproject.
