Diego Almaraz and Kaitlyn Clingenpeel
Starting in Cancún, the Tren Maya will draw in tourists and transport them across and around the Yucatán Peninsula to multiple major Maya archaeological sites including Tulum, Chichen Itza, Palenque, and Calakmul, among others. This $9.8 billion and over 1,500 km long railway will be able to transport up to 40,000 passengers across southeast Mexico and stands to bring a great deal of revenue back to the government (Pérez Ortega and Gutiérrez Jaber 2022). This megaproject, proposed by Mexico’s current President: Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), which connects 5 Mexican states: Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo, is set to start operations at the end of 2023 (Gobierno de Mexico n.d.; Pérez Ortega and Gutiérrez Jaber 2022).
While this project makes use of some existing cargo lines, a great deal of construction will also need to take place to create the looping track that connects the peninsula (Diaz Montemayor 2019). This project has garnered a lot of criticism since it was proposed by AMLO, specifically related to the issues with the construction of the new track. The train is set to impact at least 1,300 archaeological sites, 10 protected natural areas, and more than 143,000 Indigenous peoples living along the train’s route (Pérez Ortega and Gutiérrez Jaber 2022). The increase in tourism and people passing through the region also raises the risk of potentially increasing the drug and human trafficking in the area along with it (Pérez Ortega and Gutiérrez Jaber 2022). With incomplete environmental analyses and a rushed timeline, this project poses a great risk to the livelihoods of the Indigenous peoples and to the delicate biodiverse ecosystems the tracks run through (Carmago and Vázquez-Maguirre 2021; Diaz Montemayor 2019; Pérez Ortega and Gutiérrez Jaber 2022). The route crosses through many rural Indigenous communities, discovered and undiscovered archaeological sites, and the habitats of endangered and threatened species. Certain stretches of the train also run over a network of complex and fragile underground caves (Associated Press 2022). The losses on the social, economic, academic, and ecological levels if the project is handled incorrectly would be astronomical and this is a worry of many activists.
Vida y Esperanza
One example of such a place put at risk by the construction of the train is the village Vida y Esperanza. The train will run right past the doors of the 300 residents living in this Maya village and will, in fact, quite literally cut it off from the rest of Mexico (Associated Press 2022). The train is set to cut through the one narrow dirt road that connects Vida y Esperanza to the highway, which would make any trip out of the area four times longer (Associated Press 2022). While the government has promised the construction of an overpass, residents are skeptical given the constant failure of the Mexican government to ensure the wellbeing of its Indigenous population. The train is going to be travelling at speeds of around 100 mph and will rush past the local elementary school, which most children walk to (Associated Press 2022). Another issue the train will likely cause for Vida y Esperanza is the solutions the Mexican government has proposed to deal with the underground caves that are in the area. The Yucatán Peninsula is a largely flat and dry area, so the only available source of water is in these underground caves or cenotes. The Mexican government is going to fill in some of these underground caves to increase the safety and stability of the train tracks, which runs the risk of contaminating the village’s only water source and has stirred up a large amount of criticism from the local population and activists (Associated Press 2022). This is just one of many small villages that are being impacted and put at risk by this megaproject.
Indigenous Struggles Exacerbated
To the layperson, making the connection between Mexico and colonialism may not be clear given the country’s more than 200 years of independence since Spanish colonial occupation. However, history shows us that colonialism has never cleanly left Mexico. The Tren Maya project serves as a strong testament to that. The subsuming of Indigenous voices into discourses of development allow the state of Mexico to prioritize economic value above other alternative forms of value (social, ecological, etc.). In a world of globalization, post-colonies like Mexico are pressured to subscribe to western notions of development. Rich western countries, like the U.S, possess an insatiable lust for consumption leading to long commodity chains in which the seemingly endless appetite of people living in the west are fed by inputs of labor and resources from people and countries far far away (McMichael 2011). In the end, it is usually post-colonial regions like Mexico where that labor is sourced, usually encouraged by “development agencies”, even if the costs of that development “[ecologically] overshoot” what is realistically sustainable by a given environment (McMichael 2011). And, while the project outwardly expresses the seemingly noble goal to create jobs and spur economic growth that might lift more than a million people out of poverty, it gives little consideration to the actual opinion on the ground of those who will be most affected by the project (Reuters 2023). More insultingly, the current government of Mexico claims approval to build the railway based on the results of a referendum that saw only a 2.86% turnout (Córdova 2019). What’s more, there is little evidence to suggest that the Mexican government took meaningful steps to seek proper consultation with Indigenous communities about the project (Carmago and Vázquez-Maguirre 2021). Despite the questionable referendum and its inadequate consultation with Indigenous communities, the government of Mexico has carried forward with the project and seems to be ignoring its subscription to the ILO Convention 169. This “establishes: “…the right of indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their cultures…” guaranteeing: “ownership of their lands, the natural resources of their territories, the preservation of their traditional knowledge, self-determination and prior consultation” (CONACYT 2019, 13). Any decision that affects them must have their: “…free consent, prior and informed” (CONACYT 2019, 13). Blatantly ignoring the agency, opinions, and trust of the Indigenous community, the Mexican government has placed economic development above the environment (greatly valued by the Indigenous community) and potential economic risks such as competition with large hotels and restaurants and the erosion of Indigenous communal land (Carmago and Vázquez-Maguirre 2021).
Identity Exoticized
But beyond development, how else might this project be understood? One helpful interpretation is through a concept developed by Edward Said, Orientalism. Said describes the conception of the Orient as “a place of romance, exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences” (Said 1978, 1). In a similar vein, the Mexican government has fetishized the historical idea of the Indigenous people of southern Mexico, placing that above the needs of the Indigenous peoples still alive today. This fetishization of Indigenous culture and identity in Mexico stems back to Mexico gaining its independence from Spain. In an effort to distinguish themselves from the Spanish, they adopted a combined and overgeneralized identity based on the many Indigenous groups that had been living in Mexico long before the Spanish conquest of the area (Navarrete 2011).
From the outset, the Tren Maya project has been greatly motivated by a desire for increased tourism. In this way, the Mexican government is seeking to control the interpretation and narrative of traditional Maya culture, appropriating it for economic gain and national prestige despite concerns raised by activists and locals alike. Even the main supplier of train cars for the project has the audacity to name the different classes of its train cars after Mayan words calling them “Xiinbal” or “P’atal” and claiming to model the look of their trains as “inspired by the Mayan culture, in the majesty of the jaguar, as an endemic element of the region, in its elegance, speed and beauty” (ALSTOM 2023). The real and sacred cultural history of the Maya is commodified into nothing more than a mere trinket for western tourists.
The Indigenous peoples of Mexico have faced seemingly endless suffering and continue to have their rights infringed upon by those in power to this day. Ultimately, until dignity and respect for Indigenous communities is given priority, until neo-liberal concepts of “development” are transcended, and until the overdeveloped world learns to live within its means, issues like this will continue to appear in Mexico and globally.
References:
ALSTOM
2023. The Mayan Train Project. Web Page, https://www.alstom.com/mayan-train-project, accessed March 8, 2023.
Associated Press
2022. Mexico’s Maya Train Project Divides Maya People in its Path. The Washington Post, September 7. https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2022/09/07/mexicos-maya-train-project-divides-maya-people-its-path/, accessed March 7, 2023.
Camargo, Blanca A., and Mario Vázquez-Maguirre.
2021. “Humanism, dignity and indigenous justice: the Mayan train megaproject, Mexico.” Journal of Sustainable Tourism 29, no. 2-3: 372-391.
CONACYT
2019. Territorios Mayas en el Paso del Tren: Situación Actual y Riesgos Previsibles. Consejo Civil Mexicano para la Silvicultura Sostenible. https://www.ccmss.org.mx/acervo/territorios-mayas-en-el-paso-del-tren-situacion-actual-y-riesgos-previsibles/, accessed March 7, 2023.
Córdova, Osvaldo
2019. Solo votó el 2.86% del padrón por Tren Maya. Diario ContraRéplica, December 17. https://www.contrareplica.mx/nota-Solo-voto-el-286-del-padron-por-Tren-Maya-2019171249, accessed March 7, 2023.
Diaz Montemayor, Gabriel
2019. México quiere construir un tren en el corazón de la región Maya, ¿debería de hacerlo? The Conversation, August 27th. https://theconversation.com/mexico-quiere-construir-un-tren-en-el-corazon-de-la-region-maya-deberia-de-hacerlo-121861, accessed March 7, 2023.
Gobierno de Mexico
n.d. Tren Maya. Web Page, https://www.gob.mx/trenmaya, accessed March 7, 2023.
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
2022. ¿Quiénes somos? INAH, July 25. https://www.inah.gob.mx/quienes-somos, accessed March 8, 2023.
McMichael, Philip
2011. “Development and Globalization: Framing Issues.” In Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, 1-22. Sage Publications, London.
Navarrete, Federico
2011. “Ruins and the State: Archaeology of a Mexican Symbiosis.” In Indigenous Peoples and Archaeology in Latin America, edited by C. Gnecco and P. Ayala, pp. 39-52. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA.
Pérez Ortega, Rodrigo, and Inés Gutiérrez Jaber
2022. “A controversial train heads for the Maya forest.” Science 375, no. 6578: 250-251. https://www.science.org/content/article/controversial-train-heads-maya-rainforest.
Said, Edward
1978. Orientalism. Vintage Books, New York, NY.
Reuters
2023. Mexico’s Mayan Train critically threatens ancient, pristine areas, scientists warn. NBC, January 4. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexicos-mayan-train-threat-ancient-areas-scientists-warn-rcna64212, accessed March 7, 2023.