Route of the Maya Train.
By: Chiapas Paralelo
* It will be the National Tourism Fund and the Secretary of the Treasury who will analyze the final cost, but it is estimated that the figure will be between 120 and 150 billion pesos. It’s worth remembering that, according to what the institutions say, 90 percent of the investment will come from private investment and the remaining 10 percent from public resources.
The Government of the Republic, through the Official Newspaper of the Federation, reported on the process of consulta (voting) with the indigenous communities close to the Maya Train project. In Chiapas, it will be held December 14 in Palenque.
Rogelio Jiménez Pons, Director of the National Fund to Promote Tourism (Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo, Fonatur), reported that negotiations with owners of ejidos close to the tracks of the Maya Train have been complicated in recent months, and therefore they have postponed times for the start of construction.
Fonatur detailed last July that the consultation for populations close to the Maya Train would be held no later than this October. However, that didn’t happen.
Chiapas will be the first state to hold both the information and also the voting phases, since the Chol and Tseltal communities will be consulted in Palenque about this project, with an assembly on November 29 and the execution of the vote on December 14.
Given that, they invited the authorities and institutions representative of indigenous municipalities and communities belonging to the Maya, Ch’ol, Tseltal, Tsotsil and other indigenous peoples, from the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, located in the area of influence, as well as the general citizenry of said states, to participate in the Process of Indigenous Consultation and Day of Participative Citizen Exercise About the “Maya Train Development Project.”
The process of Consultation with indigenous communities will be held from November 15 to December 15, 2019, through Regional Consultation Assemblies. The day of the participatory exercise [vote] will be December 15, 2019.
The federal government commented that this process of consultation has the objective of establishing a dialogue with the indigenous peoples and communities for the purpose of receiving their opinions about the “Maya Train Development Project,” as well as agreements with the indigenous peoples and communities that are in the Project’s area of influence, with respect to their participation in the implementation of said project, as well as in the just and equitable distribution of the benefits.
Before executing the consultation, authorities decided to establish 15 regional assemblies, which would be held on the days of November 29 and 30, where they will deliver an executive summary of the project in question and the community consulted will have the right to request additional information at any stage of the consultation procedure.
It will go to a deliberative stage, in which representatives of the indigenous communities could hold assemblies or meetings with their members for the purpose of reflecting on the information received and constructing proposals, suggestions or approaches about the “Maya Train Development Project.”
The Maya Train intends to travel 1500 kilometers in 5 states of the country, on its route it will pass through: Cancún-Tulum-Bacalar-Xpujil-Escárcega-Candelaria-Palenque. On the other hand, with the extension the new route would include Palenque-Candelaria-Escárcega-Campeche-Mérida-Valladolid-Cancún.
The schedule of information meetings and voting days can be found at the following link (in Spanish): https://www.chiapasparalelo.com/noticias/chiapas/2019/11/consulta-por-tren-maya-iniciara-el-14-de-diciembre/
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Originally Published in Spanish by Chiapas Paralelo
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee
Chiapas Support Committee 
I’m probably overly paranoid, trying to keep up with the news from Bolivia, but I’m concerned about that 90% private investment. Should the US decide to initiate a coup, force regime change, and install an anti-Indigenous genocidal administration in Mexico, it looks to me like that so-called Maya Train would make it a lot easier for them. I’d certainly want to know which specific vulture capitalists were financing that investment, and their involvements, if any, with projects in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Chile.