Skip to Content

Mexico’s Maya Train is destroying ancient caves. Learn about the beautiful ‘cenotes’ under threat

By TERESA DE MIGUEL, MEGAN JANETSKY and RODRIGO ABD
Associated Press

AKTUN TUYUL CAVE SYSTEM, Mexico (AP) — Mexico’s outgoing leader has rapidly built a train system looping around the country’s southern Yucatan Peninsula. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised the more than $30 billion Maya Train project would connect tourist hubs like Cancún and Playa del Carmen to dense jungle and remote archaeological sites. The government hoped it would draw money into long-neglected rural swathes of the country. But the crown jewel of the populist’s presidency is slowly destroying one of Mexico’s natural wonders: A fragile system of an estimated 10,000 subterranean caverns, rivers, lakes, and freshwater sinkholes.

Article Topic Follows: AP-National

Jump to comments ↓

Associated Press

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

KION 46 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.

Skip to content