HALT the Maya Train Project!
June 7, 2022
To: Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of the United States of Mexico
From: Continental Commission Abya Yala
Upon gathering in the City of Los Angeles for the Encounter of Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala, and having heard the testimony of our Maya Nation relatives from Mexico regarding the impact of the Maya Train project being promoted by your government, we denounce the blatant and systematic violation of the right of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples in the context of the USMCA-CUSMA-TMEC triparty international trade agreement between Mexico-Canada-USA, and we call upon your administration to HALT the Maya Train.
On November, 2018, just days before you assumed
the Presidency, a respectful letter was presented to you explaining why the AMLO Train Project (aka Tren Maya) should not be carried out with arguments and facts
that come from scientific studies as well as the wisdom of the people who live
in this region. The letter explained that it was indispensable that the project:
“Not ignore the principle of prior, free and informed consultation of the local indigenous communities to be affected as required by ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples”; This may not be substituted by any “national consultation” and must be carried out in a transparent manner and under the observation of a commission that has no conflict of interest”.
Yet today, the so called Maya Train, promoted by your
government is being built in violation of the self determination of the Mayan
peoples and communities that ancestrally have inhabited this territory; without
the explicit consent of the peoples and communities and without consulting
experts in whom the people of Mexico have invested large amounts of resources
to generate knowledge about the bio cultural heritage of the nation.
At this
moment, the construction of the Maya Train has impacted the life ways,
biodiversity, sustainability, environmental quality, the human rights and
survival of the peoples and communities that inhabit the entire region which
the project claims to benefit.
The Continental Commission Abya Yala, gathered in the City of Los Angeles joins today in solidarity with our Maya relatives and other the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico who stand in resistance and opposition to the destruction of Mother Earth under the Plan Puebla-Panama (Trans Isthmic Plan) that includes the Maya Train project.
We call upon the government of Mexico to:
1. Halt the Maya Train project.
2. Conduct a serious and careful evaluation of the impacts the project has already caused.
3. Designate funding for the social and ecological restoration of the region.
4. Engage in an in-depth conversation that includes the Indigenous Peoples and communities of the region as a priority, regarding the appropriateness of the Maya Train and other projects that proport to recover the environmental and cultural values of the Maya.
CONTINENTAL COMMISSION ABYA YALA
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