Mexicos Mayan Train: Will it hurt those its meant to help? – The Christian Science Monitor

Maria Moreno, a nurse in the Yucatan, always planned to move to her familys home in Citilcum once she retired. But a new train line meant to bring prosperity to Mexicos long underdeveloped and impoverished south may be pushing her plans off track. Last spring, the national tourism agency told her that her gleaming-white home surrounded by coconut trees would need to be demolished.

The Mayan Train is a pet project of President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, who won on a populist ticket to create jobs and improve the lives of Mexicos rural poor and Indigenous populations. But how the project has been carried out with complaints of limited community consultations, incomplete environmental studies, and threats to displace many of the presidents most vulnerable supporters has soured some against him, including Ms. Moreno, who voted for Mr. Lpez Obrador back in 2018.

Mexicos president won on a ticket to help the countrys most vulnerable. But, with the end of his term approaching, his rush to complete big works could create a more complicated legacy.

The Mayan Train is meant to extend around the Yucatan Peninsula in a roughly 950-mile loop that links tourism centers like the colonial city of Mrida and the hipster paradise of Tulum. The government estimates it will increase tourism revenue by 20% and create more than 1 million jobs.

The president doesnt seem swayed by the criticism and pushback on the project, convinced any resistance to the train wont translate to a dip in support, says Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst. Indigenous resistance to the project was never an issue [for this administration], he says.

Citilcum, Mexico

Maria Moreno promised her mother she would always take care of their family home. After her parents died, Ms. Moreno and her husband painted the houses walls gleaming white and planted a shady grove of coconut trees in the yard.

But the care that went into the home didnt seem to matter to Mexicos national tourism agency, Fonatur, when a representative told her last spring that it would need to be demolished. The government is making way for a massive infrastructure project called the Mayan Train, which it wants to build along the power lines that rise beside Ms. Morenos home in this steamy village about 170 miles west of Cancn.

The Mayan Train is a pet project of President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, who won the presidency on a populist ticket to create jobs and improve the lives of Mexicos rural poor and Indigenous populations. But how the project has been carried out so far with complaints of limited community consultations, incomplete environmental studies, and threats to displace many of the presidents most vulnerable supporters has soured some voters against the president, including Ms. Moreno, who voted for him back in 2018.

Mexicos president won on a ticket to help the countrys most vulnerable. But, with the end of his term approaching, his rush to complete big works could create a more complicated legacy.

He has really deceived us, says Ms. Moreno, who works as a nurse. We were excited about change, but now things are going from bad to worse. Ms. Moreno currently lives in nearby Campeche, but always planned to move back to her familys home in retirement.

The Mayan Train is meant to extend around the Yucatan Peninsula in a roughly 950-mile loop that links tourism centers like the colonial city of Mrida and the hipster paradise of Tulum. Mr. Lpez Obrador promotes the train as a way to reduce poverty in the Yucatan: The government estimates it will increase tourism revenue by 20% and create more than 1 million jobs.

Locals gather in the shade of the municipal palace in Kimbil, Mexico, June 28, 2021, to discuss how their community can organize to have a say in the development of the Mayan Train. The major infrastructure project that has become a touchstone of President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, who ran on a ticket of lifting up poor people.

Most of the train will run on existing tracks that need modernizing. The government plans to construct the rest on public and private land, which means eviction for some in Mexicos Yucatan. The government, which broke ground on the project in 2020, would not provide specific numbers on how many households it will relocate, saying the estimate of homes that could be affected is constantly changing. But Kalycho Escoffi, a lawyer who assists families facing displacement, estimates more than 2,000 homes will be demolished to clear space for the train.

Thats hit at the hope some in Mexico felt in voting for Mr. Lpez Obrador, who has built his personal brand on fighting for the little man and rejecting corruption. But Mr. Lpez Obrador is convinced any resistance to the train wont translate into a significant dip in support at the polls, says Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst whose podcast Un Poco de Contexto featured an episode about the Mayan Train.

Construction started without securing the buy-in of Indigenous communities, says Mr. Bravo. Indigenous resistance to the project was never an issue [for this administration].

The Mayan Train has become so contentious its divided some friends and family over how to address Mexicos stark inequality.

The largely rural south has historically experienced higher rates of poverty and unemployment than the more industrialized north.And some take issue with the projects very name, calling it an act of cultural appropriation, commercializing Mayan culture without including Indigenous communities in the plans.

Francisco Colle, a member of the Mayan community in the town of Hctun, likens the presidents ambitious focus on infrastructure to the United States New Deal. He foresees construction jobs that will allow disadvantaged communities to put food on the table.

Now a lot of rich people [in Mexico] are mad because theyre no longer getting a piece of the cake, says Mr. Colle.

But others say its just another project dreamed up by the powerful, who will reap all the benefits. The train has backing from Mexican scion Carlos Slim, one of the richest people in the world.

Were living in the modern colonial era, says Juan, who is Mayan and declined to give his last name because he fears retaliation for his opposition to the train. He calls it a continuation of the Spanish conquest, in which outsiders plunder Indigenous lands. None of the profits from the Mayan Train will stay in our communities.

The government is obligated to consult Indigenous communities prior to building new projects on their land, according to Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, which Mexico has ratified. Fonatur has repeatedly come under fire for not holding these consultations.

Mexico plans to build part of the Mayan Train along an access road below tall power lines that run through the small village of Citilcum, seen here June 28, 2021. The more than 950-mile project, championed by President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, will link tourism hot spots like Cancn and Tulum.

Javier Velzquez Moctezuma, Fonaturs scientific coordinator for the Mayan Train, says the government complied with their obligations, organizing meetings in 15 regions along the trains route with interpreters who translated into Indigenous languages.

Many people [told us] they wanted the train, they wanted development, they wanted to have opportunities, Mr. Velzquez says, acknowledging the government hasnt held consultations in every town where the train will operate.

With the end of Mr. Lpez Obradors term looming in 2024, Mr. Velzquez says Fonatur must work to finish the train quickly. The train isexpected to cost nearly $10 billion. He maintains any disadvantages of speeding the projects construction are overshadowed by benefits.

But the collapse of Line 12 of Mexico Citys metro last spring casts doubt on a rushed project.Mariano Snchez-Talanquer, a political science professor at El Colegio de Mxico, says authorities rushed to complete that metro line and the project was carried out by a company owned by Mr. Slim that is also involved in constructing a section of the Mayan Train.

You cant help but think the same type of problems with the metro could be replicated, Dr. Snchez-Talanquer says.

Recently Mexicos government took the bold step of passing a measure that would expedite infrastructure projects in the name of public interest and national security. Critics say the move undermines regulatory measures and makes public spending less transparent, while allowing AMLO, as the president is often referred, to steamroll into existence big projects like the Mayan Train or a new Mexico City airport. He hasmore than 60%approval.

Despite some local disapproval of the train, I think the president is calculating that his popularity gives him no reason to change course, says Dr. Snchez-Talanquer.

On a Sunday morning last summer, nearly two-dozen residents from the town of Kimbil gathered in the shade of the municipal palace. They brainstormed ways to organize their community in order to gain greater say in the trains construction. Locals sat in a circle across from an aging colonial church and shops selling the regions colorful embroidery. Organizers say one strategy theyre using to appeal to AMLO supporters is to try and underscore that their discontent isnt blanket opposition.

I voted for Lpez Obrador, and Ill probably vote for [his party] Morena again, but that doesnt mean that I agree with how theyre implementing the Mayan Train, a software engineer named Juan Mex told the small crowd.

Chief among Mr. Mexs concerns is the fact that Fonatur has not held a local consultation with his community in Kimbil. The government plans to build part of the train in the local ejido collective farmland.

Representatives from Fonatur did come to Kimbil, but Mr. Mex says the government only met with select members of the ejido in a series of closed-door sessions. Everyone else was excluded, even though the entire community would be potentially affected.

Mr. Mex and others decided to fight for their right to attend, spending the summer pressuring authorities to give them a seat at the table. Despite their efforts, they remained sidelined: The government paid the ejido members 5,000 pesos each about $250 for the right to construct the train, locals say.

Theyll spend [that] in one month, says Jorge Fernndez Mendiburu, a lawyer with the human rights group Indignacin, which has won several injunctions to stop construction on parts of the train. Its an insult for those who live in poverty.

Still, the rollout has done little to dissuade Mr. Lpez Obradors core supporters.

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Mr. Colle, a former immigrant living in California, decided not to try to return to the U.S. after Mr. Lpez Obrador became president. For the first time in his life, he says he feels he has a future here. He wants to open a business near the train and take advantage of the increased foot traffic he expects to come with the train line.

If Mexico keeps going in the same direction, Mr. Colle says, then in 20 years, well probably be like Canada.

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Mexicos Mayan Train: Will it hurt those its meant to help? - The Christian Science Monitor