abcnews.go.com
23.03.2022
Mexican president once again lashes out at environmentalists
MEXICO CITY -- A group of Mexican singers, actors and environmentalists have issued a public protest against plans to cut down a swath of low jungle between Cancun and Tulum to build a tourist train line.In a series of videos, more than a dozen celebrities ask President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to stop the project, which requires massive tree cutting and threatens to collapse underground caves known as “cenotes.”On Tuesday, actors like Eugenio Derbez and Kate del Castillo, and singers like Natalia Lafourcade, published a video asking the president to stop the construction.López Obrador angrily rejected the calls Wednesday and called them “fake environmentalists.”“They convince or they hire performers, fake environmentalists who supposedly are defending the environment, and they start a campaign against the train,” López Obrador said.López Obrador views the so-called “Maya train” project as a priority of his administration. The 950-mile (1,500- kilometer) rail line will run in a rough loop around the Yucatan peninsula, connecting Caribbean coast resorts with archaeological sites further inland.Though the area has abundant Indigenous communities, jungles, wildlife and archaeological sites, the project was rushed through with little in the way of consultations, feasibility studies or environmental impact statements.While rail lines already existed on some parts of the project, the stretch between the resorts of Cancun and Tulum has proved particularly controversial.