Maya Train: Workers protest over non-payments and poor housing

Workers of the Maya Train blocked federal highway 307 that connects Cancun with the capital Chetumal, at the height of the section between Puerto Aventuras and Tulum, to express their dissatisfaction with the delay in payments and the poor housing conditions offered by the company Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA), as they say that the houses now lack basic services such as electricity and water.

State police officers arrived at the site of the blockade, only to confirm the situation and leave a few minutes later. According to workers’ testimonies, approximately 1,500 people are affected, since the housing provided by the company does not have such services.

They reported that the purpose of blocking the federal highway is to make those responsible for the works, in this case the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena), listen to their demands. They explained that they want to denounce that the ICA company has not paid them and they are owed overdue paychecks, in addition to the fact that where they live, their electricity has been cut off, because their employers did not pay for the service.

They reiterated that, due to the poor conditions of the camp and the lack of safety guarantees for working on the Mayan Train, sections 5, 6 and 7, they decided to block federal highway 307, near Puerto Aventuras.

As reported by REPORTUR.mxthe Mayan Train, the new airport and El Jaguar park will increase the population of the municipalities of Tulum and Felipe Carrillo Puerto by around 450 percent over the next three decades, according to the Territorial Operational Program of the Southern Zone of the Riviera Maya. (Amazement with Tulum: population will quadruple due to the Mayan Train and airport).