Roberto Garduno
Newspaper La Jornada
Monday, April 4, 2022, p. 4
The premise of inaugurating the Mayan Train in December 2023 led President Andrés Manuel López Obrador this weekend to supervise the work of that mega-work. In a meeting with the engineers and military personnel who will work on the laying of two sections (more than 500 kilometers long), he emphatically reiterated: People want the Mayan Train
.
In a video published early yesterday on his social networks, he was seen and heard addressing the military personnel involved in the construction of two sections. To complete his message, he uploaded two tweets in which he refers to the supervision tour – aboard a military helicopter – and pointed out that he will do the same thing every month:
On Friday and Saturday we visited four military engineer camps that have begun the construction of 550 kilometers of the Mayan Train and the new airport in Tulum, Felipe Carrillo Puerto. In addition, I share some images of the archaeological zone of Kohunlich, the Milagros lagoon and Bacalar. With all due respect, like Mexico there are not two.
In the afternoon, the President uploaded a second video to his network accounts. In 39 seconds he is seen contemplating the green thicket from the military helicopter that transported him through the area where he will have to cross the railway. And in two short texts he reported on his activities:
Today, with the Governor of Quintana Roo, Carlos Manuel Joaquín González, we fly over the ancient Mayan city of Cobá, splendid, with its mountains inhabited by jaguars and its lagoons full of lizards. All this will be better known with the Mayan Train. We finished the evaluation of the weekend; Every month I will do the same to inaugurate this great work for the benefit of southeastern Mexico in December of next year.
In the first video, in front of the military personnel, he explained: “We are very happy to be in this camp and thank you for your willingness to work, your responsibility, your professionalism, you know that this work, as well as the Felipe Ángeles airport, are for the benefit of our people, of our beloved Mexico, these are not works for profit, but are truly public for the benefit of all Mexicans.
And what are we looking for with the construction of the Mayan Train? That those tourists who come to enjoy the beaches, the beauties of the Caribbean, the turquoise blue, can enter the interior, and can stay longer and enjoy the extraordinary wealth that we Mexicans have: the archaeological wealth, the remains of the great civilizations, of the great cultures that populated Mesoamerica, this region of the country.
In two shots, the first at night and the second at noon, the Tabascan details that, as well as Calakmul, you can visit Palenque, Edzná, Chichén Itzá and Tulum, “then the train will pass through all the ancient Mayan cities. They are in total, from Palenque to Cancún and from Cancún to Tulum, to Bacalar, to Escárcega, a total of 1,500 kilometers of railways.
“There are five fronts working, in five sections, and you are going to build two; These works are going to be financed with the public budget because we do not allow corruption, and the budget pays off when handled honestly.
And why are we doing all this, not only promoting tourism, not only promoting development, so that they have work, so that they have profits and to guarantee in the future that pensions will never be lacking for the members of the armed forces who They go to retirement, not only that, but also to take care of and defend these works that are done with money from the budget, without debt.
Smiling, he said to the soldiers, who remained in a listening position, I will be coming, not so often, so that they are not pressured. You already know that we must finish in December of next year. People want the Mayan Train!
