Panama, Belize and Guatemala interested in Mexican Tren Maya project

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – During a meeting in Chetumal, Panamanian diplomatic representatives expressed interest in connecting the Maya rail line with Central American ports to maximize the project’s economic impact.

This was announced by the Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo (Fonatur) in collaboration with the Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico (Sede) and the Agencia de Proyectos Estratégicos (AGEPRO), which presented the benefits and economic impact of the Tren Maya in Quintana Roo to a delegation of Panamanian businessmen, chambers and associations.

The Tren Maya (sometimes also Mayan Train or Maya Train) is a proposed 1,525-kilometre (948 mi) intercity railway in Mexico that would traverse the Yucatán Peninsula.

The railroad would begin in Palenque in Chiapas and travel northeast towards Cancún in Quintana Roo via two routes that encircle the peninsula. The project aims to connect tourist destinations in Yucatán, including historic Mayan sites from which it derives its name.

During the meeting, Alfredo A. Oranges, Panamanian Ambassador to Mexico, affirmed that the Tren Maya project is one of the most important construction projects in the entire continent, especially due to the strategic location of the Yucatan Peninsula with the rest of Mexico and Central America.

“We are convinced that the Tren Maya has fundamental components, the human component, the social responsibility that a project of this type entails, such as the creation of jobs and, above all, the connection of a vast area, taking into account the environment and its mitigation,” he said.

He added that Panama has two deep-sea ports that could reach 1,500 ports globally, so it is important to connect them with land and air freight.

José Sánchez Castillo, head of Section 7, stressed that the Tren Maya is a project that will reorder and boost the economic development of the entire southeastern region of the country, highlighting Chetumal’s geographic location due to its natural border with Belize and Guatemala, its air, sea, and land transport routes, and the linkage of strategic projects with the national government, such as the cargo and passenger stations planned in the national capital.

For her part, Rosa Elena Lozano Vázquez, head of SEDE, pointed out that in addition to Panama, Belize and Guatemala have a great interest in the Tren Maya project, since its professional and technical future planning promotes economic recovery between the nations.

GUATEMALA AND BELIZE ALSO SHOW INTEREST

In January of this year, during the virtual press conference to present the business meeting between the countries that make up Mundo Maya, the head of the Guatemalan Tourism Institute, Mynor Cordón, assured that since then negotiations are already underway with Mexico to extend the Maya train to its Central American neighbor.

“The Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already contacted Mexico to look into stations within Guatemala. From a tourism point of view, we see this as an opportunity for development, an opportunity for jobs, but above all, a new quality of life for the residents of the different sectors along the route of the Maya train. Guatemala is very interested in the follow-up to the start of work on the project and is aware of it,” he said.

Mexico’s Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco said on this occasion that the extension of the Maya train to Central America is a “dream” that the current government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to realize.