Mexico's famed Mayan ruin sites unreachable because of cartel violence, land dispute: Report

Visitors can't reach at least two well-known Mayan ruin sites because of Mexican drug cartel violence and a land dispute, according to The Associated Press.

Mexico’s government has acknowledged that the rise in drug cartel violence in Chiapas last year has left the Yaxchilán ruin site completely closed off, and that the pyramids of Tonina are inaccessible because a landowner has closed off access over a dispute, AP reported.

Two tourist guides, who requested anonymity for their safety, say that two other sites can only be reached by passing though the gang checkpoints, even though the government claims are still open to visitors.

“It’s as if you told me to go to the Gaza Strip, right?” one of the guides told AP.

What other cites are inaccessible?

The tour guide said there is a permanent gang checkpoint on the road to Lagartero, a Mayan pyramid complex surrounded by turquoise lagoons.

“They demand your identification, to see if you’re a local resident,” he said. “They take your cellphone and demand your sign-in code, and then they look through your conversations to see if you belong to some other gang. At any given time, a rival group could show up and start a gunbattle.”

Meanwhile the government claims that there isn't a problem, a stance "in line with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s policy of playing down gang violence − even as the cartels take over more territory in Mexico," AP reported.

“Bonampak and Lagartero are open to the public,” the National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement to AP.

“It is false, biased and irresponsible to say that these archaeological sites are in danger from drug traffickers,” the institute said.

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Sellers at the Mayan Ruins block Chichén Itzá entrance

In January 2023, Mayan descendants blocked roads leading to the Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá for more than five consecutive days, according to Telemundo.

The sellers set up protest lines and demanded more access to the complex to sell their products. Security guards allegedly kicked them out.

Diego Prieto, director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, told Telemundo that the sellers, “want to sell Chinese merchandise in front of the pyramids.”

The descendants argued that the director is allowing wealthy people to enter the ruins at night and climb the pyramid − actions that are supposed to be prohibited to preserve and protect the pyramids.

The dispute highlighted a lot of problems that the Mayan people face today, Telemundo reported. Many of the Mayan people live in poverty and use the heavily touristed area to celebrate their culture and history of their ancestors.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Drug cartel violence plagues now-unreachable Mayan ruin sites