The final work on the Mayan train is expected to be inaugurated in 2023. | Photo: Tren Maya

Mexico City, July 25 (RHC)-- The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, stated that the United States government is behind the groups opposing section 5 of the Tren Maya, which is part of the mega project that will cross the isthmus of Tehuantepec.

The referred stretch of the eight that make up the project in the southeastern region of Mexico has been the subject of controversy by alleged environmental groups that claim that the environmental impact in the area has not been quantified, for which they have filed several appeals before the Mexican courts.

However, the government of López Obrador has reiterated that it will do the minimum ecological damage to the region in exchange for the progress it will mean for the Mexican southeast.

The Mexican president observed this Monday that "from Mexico City and different parts of the country there are pseudo-environmentalists financed by the U.S. Government and they promote these amparos."

"So we are resorting to a procedure established by law, which is to declare this work of national security, for many reasons...", pointed out the Mexican head of state in his traditional morning press conference at the National Palace. 

One of these reasons is because a foreign government (that of the United States) is intervening, because money is being lost from the budget, because it is a priority project, because delaying tactics are being applied because there is no expeditious justice, he pointed out.

He pointed to characters such as the businessman Claudio X. González, the former Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, José Ramón Cossío, and others of what he calls "conservative" sectors as being behind the groups that oppose Section 5, which runs from Cancún to Tulum.

This section only covers 50 of the total 1,500 kilometers of the project.  "This is totally atypical, how is it that there are 1,500 kilometers of train and the conflict is in 50 kilometers?

López Obrador indicated that the federal government has already delivered information to the judges who have granted the provisional suspensions, but so far they have not resolved and the work has been stopped for three months, causing economic losses.

The Mayan train is part of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT) project associated with the Isthmus Development Program, which seeks to promote economic growth in 79 municipalities in the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz.

Likewise, the project to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans via railroad through a 304-kilometer corridor called CIIT, which connects the cities of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz and Salina Cruz, Oaxaca.