Jorge Ricardo / Reform Agency
Saturday, May 06, 2023 | 18:44
Mexico City.- Mexican environmentalists who were going to verify the effects of Section 5 of the Mayan Train, from Cancun to Playa del Carmen, in Quintana Roo, were threatened by the National Guard and Migration and prevented from proceeding to the works; President Andrés Manuel López Obrador accused them of being “false” and being financed abroad.
A group of 60 students from the University of Quintana Roo, headed by the Mexican industrial engineer, speleologist and water quality consultant, Guillermo DChristy, was rejected at the entrance to the Playa del Carmen land, where due to the train’s route, damaged caves and cenotes.
A guard blocked their way, first with the excuse that they were not wearing boots and helmets to enter the works, then he asked them for a permit and finally threatened them with the immigration authority.
“Let’s talk to Migration,” he told them. The group, which has organized several tours of the damage with citizens and investigators, asked that they call the authorities, although they later withdrew from the scene so as not to confront each other.
López Obrador, who is on a private supervision tour of the controversial mega-works due to its effects on the environment, was interviewed in Chetumal about the impediment and first denied it. He said he didn’t believe it, but went on to accuse them of being “pseudo-environmentalists.”
“I don’t believe, I don’t believe, those of the non-governmental organizations, of the so-called civil society, are pseudo-environmentalists, they are false, they are financed from abroad and by the powerful who have always felt like owners of Quintana Roo and Mexico, nothing More than that, it’s over,” he said.
An activist for more than 20 years in the Yucatan peninsula, DChristy denied on his Twitter account that he receives foreign funding.
“I am not a pseudo-environmentalist, no government pays me, I spend my fortnight to be here, many in their government would like to do what I am doing,” he said.
“They argue with us about security issues, but also the problem is that since we have already shown a lot about the problem of the caves, they are already under pressure, since we have a group from the University of Quintana Roo, what we least want is to confront them with the National Guard, so It is our responsibility as a Group of Urban Cenotes to take care of all the children,” he added.
Gemma Santana Medina, former director of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development of the Government of López Obrador and member of the #SelvamedelTren Movement, which organizes the tours, denied that there are foreigners in the group and regretted the accusations of the Mexican president, who started the work without environmental impact studies.
“I worked with the president in the National Palace and I resigned from him in February 2021. From the beginning he was told that the executive project of the Mayan Train was needed and he never showed up. I always asked him to give the necessary information to make an analysis of sustainability perspective and it was never delivered,” he said by phone.
“I decided to follow up on the ecocide of mega projects and, indeed, when they changed Section 5 of the highway into the jungle, they violated all environmental laws and I joined the organizations that defend the environment. I don’t get paid nobody, I know him (López Obrador), I was his official and today I am being an activist to honor the truth, science and protect the earth,” he added.
Santana said that this is the first time that the Mayan Train works, originally valued at 140 billion pesos, have been denied access, and considered that it is due to the growing evidence of the destruction of the system of cenotes, rivers and underground caves through which the road will pass.
“They no longer want us to expose everything and show the truth to people,” he said.
The director of the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA), Gustavo Alanís, also defended the seriousness of the environmental activists who have denounced the destruction of the Mayan Train, questioned that they had prevented their passage, but considered that they should not fall into the accusation trap.
“The work of academics, researchers, and environmentalists is more than supported and more than respected in Mexico and internationally. So we must not fall for provocations; we must continue doing the work from non-governmental organizations, environmentalists, in favor of of nature, of the health of people, of the rule of law in environmental matters, of respect for environmental human rights, with the seriousness that has always characterized them,” he said.
