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Mexico's President-elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, listens at a meeting with Ricardo Salinas and other company executives in Mexico City on Thursday, November 22, 2018. The President Elect and Salinas have signed an agreement providing for internships within the Salinas group for 12,000 young people. people and create programs to help tens of thousands of additional young people. (AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell)
MEXICO – The results released Monday show that voters in Mexico have approved the ten favorite projects of the elected president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in a referendum implicated due to low turnout.
Lopez Obrador touted referendums as a way of empowering citizens to determine policies, but critics say the last process was affected by wording, lack of information and the fact that it was not clear. about one out of 90 registered voters participated.
The most controversial project of Lopez Obrador, a train linking the main tourist attractions of the Yucatan Peninsula, recorded the highest rejection rate (6.6%), but was approved by 88.9% of voters.
The elected president has set a departure date for the continuation of the "Maya Train" after taking office on 1 December, although he has not submitted a statement of environmental impact nor consulted with Aboriginal communities.
A group of ecologists sent a petition asking him to rethink the project.
"Mr. President-elect, we have just lived thirty years during which the previous administrations imposed megaprojects in the country without studies sufficiently serious," they wrote in November.
Voting for the referendum assured voters that the train "will not affect the environment", but has not cited any evidence.
Lopez Obrador swept the critics of the experts, accusing them of not being in touch with the people.
"Look what the signers of the petition do not know, I say with all due respect and I recognize that the majority are very smart people, but as incredible as it may seem, they have to get in touch with the people of the campaign, "said Lopez Obrador. wrote of his critics.
The train aims to connect the colonial city of Merida with seaside resorts such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum before continuing in sparsely populated areas such as Bacalar, Calakmul and Palenque. Some experts say that the northern part of the road has an economic meaning, but that the southern part goes through a jungle.
In total, 946,000 people participated in the weekend referendum. This is the second held since the last election of Lopez Obrador.
The referendum also approved plans for the construction of an oil refinery, a rail link between the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, to increase additional payments for the elderly, to implement a program massive reforestation and offer free internet access and better health care. Each voting measure, including those for youth scholarships and vocational training programs, has been approved between 90% and 95%.
Gustavo de la Vega, a 30-year-old industrial designer, was one of those lined up in front of a polling station in Mexico City to participate in Sunday's referendum. He voted against the train project because of its cost.
"The idea of a referendum is good, but it was poorly organized," de la Vega said. "If it's not done well, people may not trust the referendums anymore."
In a move that calls into question Lopez Obrador's respect for the constraints on presidential power in Mexico over the past 25 years, workers have already started clearing land in a coastal mangrove for the oil refinery.
The project has not been officially approved and some doubt that it has much financial meaning.
Lopez Obrador is irritated by the fact that Mexico imports most of its refined gasoline from the United States because its own refineries are not up to the task.
A native of the state of Tabasco, in the south of the country, he also pledged to defend projects in the south-east of the country, often poor and underdeveloped.
