Courts put the brakes on Mexico’s controversial Mayan Train

During the 2018 presidential election campaign, Mexico’s Andrés Manuel “AMLO” López Obrador promised to carry out what he called the “Fourth Transformation” — a continuation of the country’s first three ‘transformations’: independence from Spain, the Reform War, and the Mexican Revolution.

Consisting of eradicating political privileges, improving efficiency in combating violence, and reshaping the country’s infrastructure, the Fourth Transformation was a bold platform that helped AMLO win the election. Four years on, however, little of the program’s goals have been achieved — and just this week the president saw one of its landmark projects buried, at least for the time being.

On May 30, Mexico’s federal courts ordered the indefinite suspension of construction works on a 60-kilometer stretch of the so-called Mayan Train railway, a 1,500-kilometer infrastructure project connecting Mexico’s southeastern Yucatán peninsula. The suspended portion of the track links the popular beach destinations of Playa del Carmen and Tulum, and has come in for severe criticism from environmentalists and indigenous groups.

The main complaint about the Playa del Carmen-Tulum rail link is a lack of transparency regarding its construction. Greenpeace Mexico collected over 44,000 signatures demanding clearer explanations about whether local flora and fauna would be affected by the railroad development.

AMLO hit back, indirectly calling Greenpeace members “pseudo environmentalists” and suggesting the group is “funded by U.S. interests.”

Now, Mexico’s...