This graphic shows the new route of the Maya Train, revised to have a station in Coba, an archaeological site.

In danger, the health of the region’s inhabitants

From the Editors

Due to the health emergency declared because of Covid-19, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH, its initials in Spanish) issued precautionary measures in favor of the original peoples of the Yucatan Peninsula, directed at the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism, to urgently suspend non-essential activities relative to the Maya Train project.

This work, considered a priority for the federal government, will have a length of more than 1,460 kilometers and will cross through the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo. A few weeks ago it was included among the essential projects to continue during the contingency. The CNDH argued that it requested the suspension of activities “to update the gravity, urgency and possible damage to the health, personal integrity and life of the region’s inhabitants.”

This recommendation arose as a result of a complaint presented by Native peoples and civil organizations in defense of human rights in Yucatan, in which they showed an imminent risk of infection from the novel coronavirus because of the jobs relative to the project.

In a communiqué, the CNDH points out that the complainants adduce “the alleged violation of the human right to health, personal integrity and life, enshrined in Articles 4 and 29 of the Constitution,” Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights and Articles 4 and 5 of the American Convention on Human Rights (the Pact of San José, Costa Rica).

The Commission indicated that given the complex adversity that affects the health of Mexicans during phase 3 of the Covid-19 pandemic, it reaffirms “its unwavering commitment to respect, protect and guaranty the human rights of the inhabitants of the Yucatan Peninsula in the face of non-essential activities of the project called Maya Train.”

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Friday, May 15, 2020

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2020/05/15/politica/016n1pol

Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee