The so-called "Maya train" (Spanish: Tren Maya) is celebrated as a prestige project by the ruling Mexico. However, behind this beautifully sounding name is a fatal mega project by the imperialists, a million grave at the expense of the population and the environment. There is therefore a lot of resistance on the part of the people, especially of the indigenous people, who rightly reject and combat and combat mega projects such as the "Tren Maya" as an attack on their livelihood and their democratic rights.
High -speed train for tourists - the population defends themselves!
At 160 km/h, the planned high -speed train on a rail route of 1,500 km is to thunder through the Yucatán peninsula in southern Mexico. The construction costs already exceed 2.5 times the original costs (from $ 7.4 billion to just under 20 billion), which are to be squeezed from the pockets of the population by means of tax - to increase the profits of foreign corporations. The train is not even intended for the transportation of the population, but in order to further boost the tourism that is already completely overdue in this region. And all at the expense of the historical area of the Maya, the workers and farmers in the region and last but not least a unique ecosystem that is essential for Mexico.
A strong protest movement has developed against this mega project. Native and poor farmers, through whose areas the tracks are to be built, organize street blocks. The residents of various villages defend themselves against land exposure and the destruction of the environment. Whole areas are developed for the mega project, underground groundwater cisterns are filled up, which the water sources of the villages could be forced or even dried up. Eleven kilometers of the "Maya train" are laid by the jungle, at the same time in this section one of the world's most complex and sensitive cave systems is located. Knowing that this project is completely whipped against the interests of the population, the prevailing Mexico has already prepared for hard resistance and the management of the entire project has given the military. Repression and murders are a common means of intimidating and containing the protest movement.
"Industrialization" Mexico or bureaucratic capitalism?
What is referred to by the Mexican President Andréz Manuel López Obrador as part of an even greater project of "industrialization of southern Mexico" is nothing more than another sale of the country to the imperialist monopolis, especially at the "Maya train", especially to the French train company ALSROM . It means the opposite of real industrialization or an economic upswing, but an even greater subordination and exploitation of the soil and the population through foreign capital. The prevailing Mexicos take on the role as a henchman compared to the interests of foreign monopolies. The revolutionary newspaper "Mural" from Mexico sums up this relationship well: “This example helps us to understand the phenomenon of bureaucratic capitalism in the oppressed countries (…) science, technology, the means of production, production itself, imports and capital are owned by imperialism and its private profit, while exports and commercialization The task will be Mexico, with a mega project that will expand the "Maya train" and the Interocean corridor with a train system everywhere. "
The "Maya train" is associated with another government's anti-popular project-the so-called Interocean Corridor. This corridor must be referred to as a "giga project", because it is de facto of 12 mega projects that are supposed to connect the Atlantic and the Pacific through a freight train route. In summary, these projects threaten the entire south of Mexico and are based on the economic interests of the imperialist monopolies. This is already moving through the country's huge blood.
Despite hard repression, the population is not intimidated and courageously fights on their livelihood against these attacks. Numerous international solidarity activities also strengthen this struggle and show the connection of the oppressed in the fight against imperialism. That's why we want the slogan here too "Against the imperialist mega projects of looting and death, fends off and fights!" spread.
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Image source : Mexico railway line - Israel Gutierrez - Unsplash (symbol image)