The government of Mexico has detailed what will be the security strategy to protect the Mayan train project. (ROGELIO MORALES / DARK ROOM)

The security strategy to protect the Mayan trendscheduled to open in December 2023, will be coordinated by the National Guardinstitution that will receive support from the Mexican Army and the Mexican Air Force.

This was announced by the head of the Secretariat of National Defense (sedena), Luis Cresencio Sandoval, who explained that the Mayan train security plan will be under the responsibility of a general coordinator of the GN and will work around three axes: physical security, operational security and air security.

To perform tasks related to Physical Securitythe National Guard will deploy 3,200 items which will carry out actions such as patrols, detachments and operations on board the train that will cross the states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.

The Mayan train will travel more than 1,500 kilometers.  (REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez)
The Mayan train will travel more than 1,500 kilometers. (REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez)

According to Operational securitythe approach is to have various means and technological instruments, among which stand out 28 dronessurveillance cameras and communication and signaling systems.

In addition, for said axis, there will be two rail security battalions and 38 National Guard installations that will be located along the more than 1,500 kilometers traveled by the Mayan train.

Finally, for the category of Air safety the authorities will have five Agusta helicopters, made in Italy, and will install three military airbases at three different points: Mérida, Yucatán; Tulum, Quintana Roo and Palenque, Chiapas.

In addition to the 3,200 national guards who will participate in physical security, 1,731 others will be responsible for ensuring the protection of ten tourist facilities and airports located in the area. In short, they will be 4,931 National Guard troops those who will participate, exclusively, in the strategy aimed at guaranteeing the security conditions in the Maya Train.

Project Security will be in charge of the GN.  (CRISANTA ESPINOSA AGUILAR / DARK ROOM)
Project Security will be in charge of the GN. (CRISANTA ESPINOSA AGUILAR / DARK ROOM)

As specified by the Sedena, each of the seven sections of the project will have stations, bus stops, maintenance bases and airports. All facilities involved in the Mayan train will be under the aforementioned security regime.

The nearly five thousand officers in the unit will be distributed as follows: 788 in section one, 399 in section two, 583 in section three, 999 in section four, 995 in section five, 786 in section six and 381 in section seven.

To this number of agents will be added 90 from the Mexican Air Force and 832 others from the Mexican Armywhich will be sent from units already deployed in the Yucatan Peninsula region.

“With these actions, the Army, Air Force and National Guard confirm their commitment to ensuring and safeguarding the well-being of citizens, contributing to the projects implemented by the Mexican government to guarantee peace. and the safety of the population”, he concluded the Sedena in a press release.

Archaeological recovery work on the Mayan train.  (Government of Mexico)
Archaeological recovery work on the Mayan train. (Government of Mexico)

The Mayan train, according to estimates by the Mexican government, intends to strengthen the territorial order of the region it will travel through and seeks to boost the tourism industry. “It will generate economic benefits and increase connectivity in the Yucatan Peninsula, allowing cargo and passengers to be moved efficiently,” reads the official description of the project.

Despite this, civil organizations such as jungle me from the train They harshly criticized the Mayan train because of the effects its construction could have on the flora and fauna of the region.

And although they were presented everywhere 50 huts the judicial authorities to interrupt the railway works in its various sections, none has managed to stop the megaproject promoted by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, since different courts have argued “the public utility of the works and that the social interest prevails on private interest.

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