14ymedio/EFE, Mexico, December 17, 2023 — With a delay of almost four hours on one of two routes, the first section of the Tren Maya was inaugurated this Saturday, which connects Campeche (state of the same name) and Cancun (Quintana Roo). In the first 293 miles of railway infrastructure, 7,000 tons were used of the 200,000 Cuban porphyria stones that the Government of Mexico would buy from Cuba. The Cuban business failed due to the lack of ports with infrastructure for unloading the Rajón stone and the high cost of transferring it from the Island.
The Mexican government intended to unload the stone in Puerto Morelos. However, the anchor of the ship Melody, in which 20,000 tons of stone from Cienfuegos were transported, damaged a coral bank of the Mexican Caribbean Biosphere Reserve, an area established for marine biodiversity, which forced part of the unloading to be aborted.
Last June, the director of Apiqroo, Vagner Elbiorn Vega, explained that three operations were carried out because the depth in this port is 14.8 feet, which caused logistical difficulties and additional operational costs. The Melody was still on the high seas with 13,000 tons of Cuban stone, and the ship Gazibey with 17,000. The fate of this stone is still unknown Faced with the complaints of environmental groups about the damage caused in the region and several legal protections to stop the work, the Administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador shielded the information.
Group Indi, one of the most important builders in Mexico, partnered with Santo Domingo Inversiones, which “served as an intermediary” with Cuba in everything related to the acquisition of the Rajón stone that would be processed in Mexico to obtain ballast.
In May, Santo Domingo Inversiones offered General Gustavo Vallejo, head of the Felipe Á