Definitive suspension against Section 5 of the Mayan Train from Cancun to Tulum

The District Judge of the First District Court of Yucatan granted a definitive suspension of the jungle clearing works for the construction of Section 5 South and North from Cancun to Tulum of the Mayan Train, in response to the complaint of lack of change of land use for which amparo 2878/2022 was filed.

This file previously went through a complaint appeal that modified the judge’s original decision and granted the provisional suspension against the clearing of the jungle on January 17.

Said appeal alludes to various irregularities in the project, but the judge attended to the one referring to the fact that the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) carried out the clearing of the jungle for the railroad without there being an authorization for change of use of land in forest lands, which is “contrary to the provisions of the Federal Constitution relating to the human rights to a healthy environment, to water, guarantees of security and legal legality”, reads the ruling.

“It is appropriate to modify the contested order and grant the provisional suspension only for the effect of suspending or paralyzing any act that has as its purpose the continuation of logging or clearing on the land comprising Section 5 south and north of the Mayan Train project, with a route from Cancun to Tulum, Quintana Roo, so as not to allow the removal or destruction of the flora of the land in question, in the areas that are outside the surface in which the change of land use was authorized in forest land through the official letter SPARN/DGGFSOE/418/1306/2022 of December 15, 2022, signed by the Director of Forest Use, as head of the office of the General Directorate of Forest Management, Soil and Ecological Ordering”, reads the sentence of January 17.

The organization Sélvame, promoter of the injunction, was pleased with the judicial resolution. “The law is once again in favor of civil society, granting the definitive suspension of the work on the Mayan Train,” it said.

The judge granted the definitive suspension based on amparo 2878/2022 filed by Sélvame, and affirmed that the project has not followed due process, studies, permits and authorizations to move forward and comply with the law.

Sélvame said it welcomes the action, “because it suspends an illegal project that affects the ecological heritage of all Mexicans. The main concern of the movement is the legal actions that have been taken to build a train that does not comply with the necessary permits or studies to avoid an irreversible ecological disaster”.

The definitive suspension was granted last February 2, when the incidental hearing was held, but the ruling was only published on the public docket this Tuesday, January 7, according to which: “Raúl Aldama Gavilán is granted the definitive suspension of the acts he is claiming with respect to the authorities specified in the fourth recital, for the reasons and for the effects set forth in the body of this resolution. Be notified personally”.

Works do not stop

Just last Friday, February 3, in an interview with El Economista, Fernando Vázquez, spokesman for the Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo (Fonatur), commented that the suspension corresponding to the injunction 2878/2022 refers only and specifically to the clearing of vegetation; however, in Section 5 of the Tren Maya there is no longer any clearing of jungle, but rather they are in the stage of works such as the driving of piles to support the railroad tracks.

“I am going to say it with all forcefulness, nothing illegal is being done, it has not been done and nothing illegal is being done, those who are trying to make believe this, are not giving all the data, because in any case the provisional suspension in force refers to suspending jungle logging works, but for now there is no more logging, what is going on is the work, which is not stopped”, he asserted.