Protesters Block Highway for Dispossessed Mayan Man

Environmentalists and activists partially blocked Federal Highway 307 this morning in support of Roberto Chan, a Mayan Indigenous man who was dispossessed of 40 hectares of land for the development of the "Amares" residential project in Puerto Aventuras. The protest began around 7:00 AM near the Dorado Seaside Hotel, initially closing the north-to-south lane and causing significant traffic congestion.

Later, the protestors opened the high-speed lane, continuing their protest in the low-speed lane. They demanded that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador return the lands to the Mayans and not to the Spanish businessmen involved in the dispossession.

They also accused magistrate Heyden Cebada Rivas of corruption. Protestor Jose Urbina used his social media to highlight not only Roberto Chan Puc's situation but also the negative impact of other developments in the region, including Tren Maya. The demonstration continued, focusing on the defense of the Mayan community's rights and preserving the environment against real estate projects that, according to the activists, harm both the local population and its surroundings.

The Spanish company, Four Cardinals Development Mexico, filed a lawsuit for significant amounts against journalist and lawyer, Fabiola Cortés, who provides legal support to an indigenous couple accusing the company of dispossessing them of the "El Pocito" property, in the Riviera Maya.

Judge Segundo Civil de Playa Del Carmen, Rafael Durán Cortázar, ordered the arrest of Cortés Miranda, who stated that she is unable to leave the state. The company, which develops the "Amares Residencial" real estate project, claims payment of $3.6 million for "material damages" and 5 million pesos for "serious moral harm".

In addition, the company asked the Second Court to issue orders to the National Banking and Securities Commission to inform them about bank accounts in the name of Fabiola Cortés, "and proceed to seize them to guarantee the payment of the claimed amounts," it indicated.

Cortés is the founder of the organization "Somos Tus Ojos", which has a long history of investigating and reporting acts of corruption in Quintana Roo. Among them, the most notable was the sale of state lands in favor of friends, family members, and front men of the then governor of Quintana Roo, Roberto Borge, who was arrested and extradited in 2017 for this matter. In 2018 Borge was linked to court proceedings for that and other criminal causes and is currently interned in a federal prison.

Isaac Henares Duclos, general attorney of Four Cardinals Development, also claimed significant amounts from "Somos Tus Ojos" and even from the Mayan indigenous people, Roberto Chan Puc and Maria Guadalupe Canul Cab.

Cortés reported last April that, in January 2023, the company allegedly dispossessed the couple of a 43-hectare property, known as "El Pocito", where the "Amares" project is currently being built on a 400-hectare plot.

Tourist guide and activist, Elias Siebenborn, has documented the development of these works, which take place on an area of caves and cenotes where human bone remains, animal bones, and other types of paleontological vestiges have been found. The lawyer pointed out that as a result of that complaint and others, she is now facing legal action.