Semarnat denied environmental authorization to a military complex of Sedena in Chetumal, Quintana Roo after confirming the illegal logging of 4.55 hectares and the advancement of works without permits, although It is almost finished.
For the first time, the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico (Semarnat) denied the Ministry of National Defense permission to build a project in Quintana Roo that is almost finished.
The official name of the project is “Equipment and Public Works of the Military Police Corps, to contribute to the operations of the Internal Order and National Security, 2023 and 2024, Construction of Facilities to provide security (Front 10)”.
“It was identified that on the project location property The removal of existing vegetation has already been carried out and therefore, the change in land use of forest areas, as well as great progress in the construction of infrastructure,” writes Semarnat in its resolution of August 13.
The denial came after confirming that before starting any procedure he had cut down 4.55 hectares and almost completely built a complex in Quintana Roo, indicates a report from Political Animal.
Also noted as another cause is the fact that Sedena made a fee payment of 46,574 pesos, however, it omitted the payment corresponding to the reception, evaluation and resolution of the MIA-P of the project, for the amount of 93 thousand 150 pesos.
Where is the work located and what is it like?
It is about some buildings that are found in the Chetumal entrancehead of the municipality of Othón P. Blanco and capital of the state, next to the new international airport that since November 2023 has been managed by the Olmeca-Maya-Mexica Airport, Railway, Auxiliary and Related Services Group, property of the same Armyrenamed Grupo Mundo Maya for marketing reasons.
He project It occupies two properties, with a total area of 74,322.80 m2, stating that it will require a land use change surface of forest areas of 45,531.11 m2, with medium subevergreen jungle type vegetation.
At the end of June 2025, the Army reported that the facilities, which will house two companies of the National Guard made up of 120 elements each, had a 75% ahead and that the work was going to conclude in October of this year.
Local media reported that it was a housing complex of 28 homes and 7 four-story buildingswith an investment of 79 million pesos.
Modus operandi of the Mexican Army, harmful to the environment
Starting the works before obtaining environmental permits is a common practice in the projects that Sedena develops in the Yucatan Peninsula.
The excavation of banks for the extraction of stone material, the construction of the Maya Trendsthe now called Mundo Maya Hotels and the Tulum airport.
In these cases, Sedena obtained permits when the works were already in the advanced phase of construction, but the Chetumal project has been treated differently.
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Profepa, which also depends on Semarnat, must resolve it
Semarnat asks Sedena to contact the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa), so that it determines what is corresponding when starting works and activities without having the respective authorization.
The agency would have to act immediately and among its powers is to close works that do not comply with regulations.
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“Profepa has to establish sanctions and indicate the measures that Sedena has to undertake to restore that area, so that the ecosystem can regenerate,” says Irma Morales Cruz, lawyer for the Civil Association Defending the Right to a Healthy Environment (DMAS). “We hope that Profepa really takes the appropriate measures and we will continue to monitor, we must not take our fingers off the line,” he points out.