Dozens of workers are working at a station of the Tren Maya, an ambitious tourism project that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador plans to inaugurate on December 1. The station is located in the municipality of Maxcanú, in the state of Yucatán, where the climate is arid and temperatures reach 35 degrees Celsius, forcing many inhabitants to stay indoors until sunset.
The Mayan Train, which will run 1,554 kilometers through five states, including the touristy Yucatan Peninsula, has been the subject of numerous lawsuits by the population, activists, and environmental organizations. They argue that the construction has damaged the peninsula’s rich ecosystem, which includes jungles, forests, cenotes, and subway rivers, as well as a wide variety of fauna.
In the nearly four years of construction, work has already been suspended and resumed by court order, while the president issued a decree declaring his infrastructure works a matter of “national security” to avoid paralysis. Despite opposition, many workers are confident that the Tren Maya will bring prosperity to their communities, although the station in Maxcanú is remote and the town lacks the infrastructure to receive tourists.
President López Obrador has also generated controversy by posting on his Twitter account a photo of what appeared to be an “aluxe,” a mythological being of the Mayan culture, which has been seen as an attempt to glorify native traditions. However, it has also received criticism and mockery for the image, which has been circulating since 2021 and was allegedly taken in the north of the country. Some young researchers who hunt birds in the area believe that someone should make an “offering” to the aluxes for the train to run smoothly and have claimed that only after “asking permission” from the elves did the birds begin to fall into their traps.