The weekly newsletter of the Mexico Solidarity Project

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February 05, 2025

Mega Project with Micro Inputs

Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team

Tren Maya with National Guard at Merida station

How would you feel if a mass transit system was coming to your city and slated to pass near your home — or maybe through your home? You’d be upset and angry — the neighborhood destroyed, dust and noise, lost green space.

So it was in Yucatán communities when they were told a mega train project with 1500 kilometers of tracks and a big station was coming right into town. Often, governments make a show of “community consultation,” with presentations designed to “sell” the project. A few concerns are collected, put in a drawer and the project proceeds.

The Tren Maya was to be former president Lopez Obrador’s signature project, his solution to the poverty and isolation of Mexico’s southern region. Given the high stakes for him, the people were apprehensive and distrustful. Would the plans be bulldozed through? Would they benefit — or would only the tourist industry? They’d heard government sales pitches before, and previous big development projects, such as in Cancún, had left them poorer than ever.

The first meetings didn’t go well. They were indeed sales pitches. However, if the purpose of the Mayan train was to improve the lives of the current residents, AMLO quickly realized that they had to plan with, not for, the people. And so, many more meetings were held in small villages. Officials learned to talk less, listen more and discard the top-down approach.

When the project designers rerouted the train and constructed urban parks, public beaches and buildings to house small businesses and services as the people wanted, apprehension turned to anticipation.

While the Tren Maya is indeed a mega project, it is a “mega” created from the micro inputs of ordinary residents. The process, as much as the product, will be part of the AMLO legacy.

For a deeper dive into current news and analysis in English, check out our media website. And definitely see the new English podcast ¡Soberanía! (Sovereignty) with José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth.  

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How the Tren Maya Route was Decided

How did you decide to study the Tren Maya project and through what lens?

I started studying the ambitious Tren Maya project in the summer of 2020, when construction of the first segments started. There was much fuss in the media about it, which also spurred my interest.

My field, political ecology, examines environmental change through the lens of power and politics, and this mega-project relates to core concerns we have in the Development Planning Unit (DPU) of University College London (UCL). We formed a multi-year research project with our postgraduate students as part of their practice module. For several years we’ve been working with colleagues from Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY) as well as Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), in alliance with various community-based organizations.

Taco vendors: VH

We started our research documenting and reflecting upon ‘the voices of the unheard’, as we called those local or indigenous communities or collectives. We wanted to hear genuine concerns — opposition to the project as a whole or to particular aspects. We then started to take those concerns and our questions to public officials on the ground from various ministries. We found them open to talking honestly with us.

Did you find a lot of opposition to the project as you expected from reading all the “fuss”?

Amongst the cases we listened to were the concerns of hundreds of families in San Francisco de Campeche that the government wanted to relocate in order to bring the railway to the site of the old, abandoned station in the center of town. Local people had built their lives and livelihoods in barrios near the old tracks.  For the most part, they didn’t oppose the Tren Maya project as a whole but simply didn’t want to move. In the end, FONATUR, the national tourism entity then in charge of the Tren Maya, decided to abandon that plan and reroute the railway, placing the station on the outskirts of Campeche.

But from what we read in the mainstream US and other press, the now completed Tren Maya is “a disaster,” environmentally and socially.

Most of the attacks on the Tren Maya were really about attacking AMLO, his government and political project. He promised before the 2018 election that he would build the Tren Maya as a way to promote economic development in the poorest and most isolated region of Mexico. The 1,500 km train and improvements in cities, towns and villages along its way would be a game changer for that region.

Zoh Laguna, Mexico: VH

Many legal injunctions were filed to stop the train. Although some were genuine, most were promoted by the political opposition. Similarly, campaigns against the project were embraced and promoted by the opposition. The huge noise made by the campaign Sélvame del Tren, for instance, stood in stark contrast with what people felt on the ground. There were some local activists with genuine concerns about the underground rivers, but for the most part it was a campaign led by urban elites from elsewhere in Mexico and their international allies. In the end, AMLO decided to declare, though a decree, that the Tren Maya was a matter of public interest and national security in order to move ahead with the project and get it done without unnecessary delays.

 “Whether it rains or thunders, the Tren Maya comes.”: EVB

"The Tren Maya is not Maya, It's military": BH

The train was constructed by the military, the Ministry of Defense (SEDENA). Isn’t that proof that AMLO militarized the country?

The more I think of it I find this claim ridiculous, particularly as all Western powers are in a militarization spree. Wars and invasions kill and harm entire peoples. AMLO’s government decided to use a mission of the army that had been underused, that is, to support the development of the country. Yes, the Department of Defense built various segments of the Tren Maya. Its engineers also built the new airport of Mexico City, the airport of Tulum, as well as the network of 2,700 branches of the Banco del Bienestar, which are essential to disperse funds to the population and to give access to financial services to those unserved. So, most people locally appreciate and welcome the work and presence of the military.

AMLO also knew that the temptation would be there for a future government to privatize at least the most lucrative segments of the Tren Maya and entrusted the whole project to the institution that would best protect the national interest. It is important to remember that this already happened not long ago, when under President Ernesto Zedillo, Mexico’s entire railways were privatized, leading to the gradual disappearance of passenger trains.

What is your recommendation to people who still have doubts?

Travel on the Tren Maya. Visit different towns. Enjoy the richness of the region of course — but talk to people, as many as you can. Speak with the staff working in the train and stations, with fellow travelers, with the National Guards, with local people. But if you can’t go see for yourself, abandon mainstream media if you want to get a balanced view of everything that happens in Mexico. Start right here with the Mexico Solidarity Project Bulletin.  Also check the Mexico Solidarity Media website and listen to their weekly podcast, Soberanía! There are many other valuable sources of information in Spanish. Find them.

Presidenta, You Do Not Stand Alone!

US President Donald Trump has opted to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. Together these three countries are the US’s top trading partners, in their respective order. The leaders of all three countries have pledged retaliatory actions, with Trump promising further retaliation in kind.

The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal, hardly a Leninist outlet, called Trump’s actions “The Dumbest Trade War in History.”

Elected on a promise to tame inflation, Trump has now set the stage for sharp, sudden and devastating price increases for consumer goods in the United States, with consumers in lower-income groups likely to be most affected. Political analysts and even bourgeois economists are befuddled by the move.

We appear to have now entered a new stage of capitalism: feckless imperialism.

Mexico now wades into uncharted waters. For over 30 years, the Mexican economy has developed along the lines and space afforded to it by first the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and later the 2018 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the latter having been negotiated by Trump himself. Kenneth Smith Ramos, Mexico’s negotiator in that deal, said Trump’s tariffs constitute a violation of the trilateral deal. The tariffs, explicitly imposed in order to coerce Mexico and Canada, also happen to be a violation of Article 20 of the Charter of the Organization of American States.

While Trump still has time to reconsider, the damage is done. The North American economic relationship is irreparably harmed. The US, Canada and Mexico built a deeply integrated economy based on the assumption that the rules laid out in the free trade agreements would be respected. As an example, according to industry representatives cited by the US Congressional Research Service, auto parts cross the border 7 or 8 times as they are assembled.

With the US accounting for over 80% of Mexican exports, these uncharted waters represent a significant challenge for Mexico but also an opportunity. Hours after Trump’s announcement, Mexico had already lined up behind President Claudia Sheinbaum.

In the city of Nezahualcóyotl in the state of Mexico, upon hearing the news, the crowd that had gathered to welcome the president cheered, “¡No estás sola, no estás sola!” (You do not stand alone!) The same chant broke out inside the halls of the Mexican Congress on Saturday night.

“Remember one thing: we cannot accept these arbitrary actions. We want to tell President Claudia Sheinbaum that she does not stand alone; her people are here; her representatives are here,” said lawmaker Ricardo Monreal Ávila.

Sheinbaum, who already enjoys 80% approval ratings, knows she can count on support from the entire country as she stands at a critical juncture in Mexican history. She now can continue to diversify Mexico’s trading partners and deepen the country’s relationships with Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region while also pressing ahead (more urgently) with her post-neoliberal economic vision. In short, free from the shackles of neoliberal orthodoxy, she can remake the Mexican economy into one that serves the poor first.

Recent news reports and commentaries, from progressive and mainstream media,
on life and struggles on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Compiled by Jay Watts.

Tom Phillips, Trump and Mexican president announce one-month ‘pause’ in US tariffs The Guardian. Tariffs would be paused for a month during negotiations would take placed involving senior Mexican officials, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Emir Olivares y Alonso Urrutia, Aranceles en pausa por un mes, dice Sheinbaum tras hablar con Trump La Jornada. Los equipos de ambas naciones empezarán trabajos hoy mismo en dos tópicos: seguridad y comercio.

W.T. Whitney Jr., Sheinbaum’s quiet revolution in Mexico People’s World. Many U.S. progressives, it seems, are not fully informed of strengthened currents of democracy and economic justice in Mexico. Awareness may inform future solidarity efforts, especially if stirrings there come to fruition and U.S. political leaders take offense.

Viri Ríos, Airbnb doblega a la Ciudad de México El País. Una izquierda timorata gobierna la Ciudad de México. O al menos eso parece al observar el desarrollo que ha tenido la regulación de Airbnb.

Sheinbaum vs. Trump: How Mexico’s Popular First Woman President Is Navigating Hostile U.S. Policy Democracy Now. A look at Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s first 100 days in office with Edwin Ackerman, analyst, professor and writer at New Left Review.

Judith Santiago, Tiendas del Bienestar ampliarán su red a 25,600 unidades en 2025, superando a OXXO El Economista. Tiendas Bienestar se enfocan en vender productos de la canasta básica y productos nacionales a precios bajos. Atiende, principalmente, a la población vulnerable en zonas rurales y marginadas.

Patrick J. McDonnell, Paco Ignacio Taibo II: A book-reading advocate in the era of TikTok Los Angeles Times. The prolific author also serves as a kind of cultural commissar, heading the government’s publishing house, El Fondo de Cultura Económica, which has published 10,000-plus titles across genres in its august, 90-year history.

Alejandro Álvarez Béjar, Millonarios con Trump: imperialismo decadente, peligroso, vulnerable El Universal. México es un contrapeso con larga historia anti-imperialista, a recuperar en estos tiempos de crisis civilizatoria y peligros para la paz mundial. Trump profundizará su declive y la era de la solidaridad y las movilizaciones antinazis.

Roberto Lovato, The CIA Illegally Spied on Puerto Rican and Mexican American Activists for Decades The Nation. And is probably still at it. As newly released classified documents confirm activists’ long-held suspicions, the disclosures should also alert us to current dangers.

En Cancillería creen que Trump buscará reemplazar el T-MEC por acuerdos bilaterales La Política. Es conocida la historia de cómo salvó el expresidente López Obrador a Canadá en el T-MEC, cuando en su primer mandato Donald Trump buscaba un acuerdo bilateral con cada una de las naciones y no -como terminó ocurriendo- un tratado trilateral: México, Estados Unidos y Canadá.

The Mexico Solidarity Project brings together activists from various socialist and left organizations and individuals committed to worker and global justice. We see the 2018 election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico as a watershed moment. AMLO and his progressive Morena party aim to end generations of corruption, impoverishment, and subservience to US interests. Our Project supports not just Morena, but all Mexicans struggling for basic rights, and opposes US efforts to undermine organizing and Mexico’s national sovereignty.

Editorial committee: Meizhu Lui, Bruce Hobson, Agatha Hinman, Victoria Hamlin, Courtney Childs, Pedro Gellert.  To give feedback or get involved yourself, please email us!

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