Valladolid, Yucatan — The latest Grupo Xcaret park project, which is under construction in Valladolid, has been suspended. On Wednesday, the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) temporarily closed the Xibalbá project for lack of environmental permits.
According to the federal agency, the park project has been temporarily shut down for violating the General Law of Ecological Balance and not having an Environmental Impact Statement as required.
The announcement of the suspension was made Thursday by President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador during his morning press conference. He explained through a video that the company has been altering the underground system by connecting eight cenotes.
The cenotes are being drilled and then connected by artificial underground rivers. AMLO said that already, cenotes have been drilled, walls, ceilings and vaults have been drilled and underground rivers have been diverted, among other violations.
“Despite the damage caused by the company for linking cenotes and creating underground rivers, no complaints have been heard from environmentalists or protection from NGOs or Selvame de Xcaret campaigns,” he criticized playing on the name of the ongoing Selvame de Tren protest in Playa del Carmen regarding section 5 south.
For nearly two weeks, AMLO has continually questioned who he calls, pseudo-environmentalists and who he has claimed have not protested other projects including those of Grupo Xcaret.
Xibalbá, the latest Grupo Xcaret theme park being built in the state of Yucatan, was suddenly shut down after more than a year of ongoing construction. The Xcaret suspension came less than a week after AMLO’s Maya Train section 5 south was suspended by a Yucatan court after environmentalists claimed damage and lack of an Environmental Impact Statement.
