• The "Mayan" Train: Mexico's latest industrial expansion renewed / El Tren Maya: la renovación de la última forntera industrial de México

    Author(s):
    Samuel Rosado-Zaidi (see profile)
    Date:
    2021
    Group(s):
    Environmental Humanities
    Subject(s):
    Economics, Communism, Socialism, Environmental geography
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Mayan Train, Tren Maya, geopolitics, Political economy, Marxism, Infrastructure
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/ynmh-f957
    Abstract:
    Mexico’s president Lopez Obrador launched four major industrial projects as a part of his so-called fourth transformation, promoted as a turning point after decades of structural reforms and an export based economy. A new oil refinery and metropolitan airport and two trains that connect southeastern Mexico with the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are currently underway. However, these projects did not steer away from Mexico’s violent history of dispossession, land grabbing, racism and corruption. The Mayan Train is a major urban and land development project spearheaded as a railway; it renews the hopes of agro, industrial, real estate and tourist industry tycoons of connecting the regional economy to international markets and the Gulf of Mexico. Such aspirations date back to Yucatan’s hacienda period known for enslaving the Mayan people in henequen plantations. As cities sprawl beyond a sustainable future and the delicate karstic aquifer is progressively polluted by industrial and urban expansion, this project threatens the livelihood of the peninsula and the hopes of a more just future for urban and rural populations alike.
    Notes:
    This document is a pre-print first draft, pending review in other journals and editorial review. It was written for COMAL and Maiz de Cajete research projects and seeks to contribute to international communities' understanding of geopolitical projects in North America.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

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