Environmentalists and civil organizations warned that the construction of Section 5 of the Mayan Train, which runs from Cancun to Tulum, threatens to destroy the largest underground river system in the world, affecting the flora and fauna of the place and deforesting the last bastions of jungle that remain in Mexico.
Beneath the new layout of Section 5 of the work, denounced the Youth for Solidarity collective, is one of the most extensive and important underwater systems in the world, known as Dos Ojos-Sac Actún, which is part of the karstic landscape of the peninsula from Yucatan.
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Consequently, the construction of another of the emblematic works of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on the local water cenotes could cause collapses and landslides due to the perforations of the machinery, the weight of the same and/or the train itself when generating vibrations when moving.
“They are going to knock them down or they will have to dynamite them because some cenotes are high up,” lamented Otto von Bertrab, from the civil association Centinelas del Agua.
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In addition to the fact that the megaproject would expose the species that inhabit the underground rivers, it would also affect their natural flow that culminates in the sea, obstructing its passage or contaminating it, which would lead to damages to the beaches of the Riviera Maya and, consequently, to the tourism.
The organizations denounced that the construction work on Section 5 began without environmental impact studies, geophysical studies or the relocation of flora and fauna.
“If this project continues without considering the impacts on the environment, we will lose the natural wealth that has made Mexico one of the most beautiful countries. The cenotes that harbor life will be destroyed. Species such as the jaguar, a symbol of the Mayan cultural heritage, will be left without their only home,” said the Greenpeace Mexico organization.
Faced with the threat that the work represents for the ecosystems of the region, and within the framework of International Water Day, a hundred communities of artists, native peoples, academics, specialists and civil society demanded that the Mexican Government modify the works of Section 5 .
With the hashtag #SelvameDelTren, they launched a campaign to prevent the work from being built on the region’s cenote system.
Voices such as Kate del Castillo, Omar Chaparro, Saúl Hernández, Eugenio Derbez, among many other celebrities, joined the campaign.
The Mayan jungle is one of the healthiest regions in the country with 114 species of terrestrial mammals, of which more than 46 percent depend directly on the caves and cenotes for their shelter and supply.
The jungle in Quintana Roo has 1,492 species of vascular plants, 810 species of fungi, 483 species of birds, 106 species of reptiles, 22 species of amphibians, 89 species of freshwater fish and a large amount of endemic fauna.