Photo: Tren Maya

By KELIN DILLON

On Monday, June 26, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) ordered the appropriation of 175.6 hectares of land across the states of Quintana Roo and Campeche for the construction of the federal executive’s controversial megaproject, the Tren Maya.

Five of the six newly published decrees take 149.6 hectares from communal land in exchange for 298.7 million pesos in compensation, as negotiated with the land’s collective owners.

The sixth decree appropriates 26 hectares from 12 private properties across Solidaridad and Bacalar, Quintana Roo, and Escárcega, Campeche, though the total government compensation for these properties has yet to be determined.

The appropriation of these private properties was previously proposed by the Secretary of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu) in a declaration of public utility on May 18, which initially suggested the appropriation of 35 hectares composed of 18 properties, though only 26 hectares and 12 properties were ultimately affected. 

This joins López Obrador’s recently announced appropriation of 15,047 hectares of communal land in Calakmul, Campeche, on Friday, June 23, of which 5,749 hectares will be granted to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) with no specified use in exchange for 603 million pesos, 9,261 hectares designated to the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources’ (Semarnat) Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, and just 32 hectares for the construction of the Tren Maya.