Patricia Vázquez Correspondent and La Jornada Maya
Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, May 31, 2022, p. 4
The first district court of Yucatan determined, in an incidental hearing held on May 27, the definitive suspension of the works of Section 5 South of the Mayan Train, from Playa del Carmen to Tulum. The decision corresponds to the lawsuit filed by a group of divers from the Riviera Maya, contained in file 884/2022. The National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur) has five days to challenge the decision.
In the area, since last week there are no longer any personnel working or machinery, said promoters of the protection. Adrián Novelo, head of the first district court, based in Mérida, Yucatán, granted the definitive suspension, although partially.
After knowing the determination, in response, Fonatur reported that “the judicial suspension on the work of the Mayan Train in Section 5 South is ‘definitive’ only until the environmental impact statement (MIA) of the project currently in progress is fully resolved. procedure before the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat)”.
He specified that the MIA related to the aforementioned section (which goes from Playa del Carmen to Tulum) is made up of more than 4,000 pages and was prepared by experts from the Institute of Ecology, with the support of the National Council of Science and Technology and the support of the Mexican Institute of Water Technology, that have a wide national and international prestige
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the court reiterated that the authorization that Fonatur and Fonatur Tren Maya presented (the provisional permit) does not comply with the environmental impact assessment procedure that should have been obtained before the start of the works
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It determined that although said authorities indicate that they have presented the evaluation, this is just the beginning of a procedure
. Also The precautionary principle establishes that it is not necessary to prove imminent and irreparable damage, since this will constitute the substantive matter.
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Considering that there is an imminent danger that works with irreversible damage will be carried out
The definitive suspension was granted, for which it ordered Fonatur and Fonatur Tren Maya to suspend or paralyze any act in the construction.
It should be remembered that on May 17, Fonatur presented to Semarnat the MIA for Section 5 South of the Mayan Train and is under evaluation at the agency. This process can take from 60 to 120 business days, in accordance with environmental legislation.
José Urbina, one of the cave divers who presented the amparo appeal, explained that it is the first amparo to be resolved and sets a precedent, since there are four other amparos for that section.
He added that the works that have been done, without the authorization of the MIA, have left impacts such as the loss of vegetation that will take 30 years or more to recover.
There are several appeals against the Mayan Train pending resolution in the first district court of Yucatan, in charge of Judge Adrián Novelo, which has been attended by most of the groups that oppose the federal megaproject.
So far, two provisional suspensions and one definitive suspension have been granted. There is one more hearing scheduled for June 24.
With information from Angélica Enciso and Eduardo Murillo
