The court upholds the halt to Sedena's construction work in Laguna Bacalar.

CHETUMAL, Q. Roo (apro).- A federal judge in Chetumal granted a definitive suspension of the works being carried out by the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) on one side of the Bacalar Lagoon, where residents report significant environmental damage.

With this, the armed forces are further forced to refrain from resuming construction work on a rest home, as they had been subject to a provisional suspension since early April.

On Wednesday, May 7, the First District Court of Quintana Roo published the court ruling granting the residents of that municipality a definitive suspension of indirect amparo proceedings 241/2025.

They are demanding that various federal authorities, primarily the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Sedena) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), begin construction without environmental studies on a military rest home on the shore of the lagoon.

The work was detected early this year by residents of Bacalar, who noted the dredging of the lagoon and other complementary works, which would likely affect the San Felipe de Bacalar Fort, an 18th-century architectural work.

In a statement, Semarnat (National Environmental Protection Agency) responded by exempting Sedena (National Environmental Protection Agency) from the Environmental Impact Statement process because, according to the agency, the ecological balance is not violated.

The residents' protests were immediately registered and concluded with the processing of two injunctions: one filed by residents and another by the associations Defending the Right to a Healthy Environment (DMAS) and the Common Justice Project (Projuc).

These appeals resulted in two suspensions, one of them permanent while the guarantee trial announced last Wednesday continues.

The measures against the Ministry of Public Works (Sedena) could be even stronger against the resumption of construction, because the preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 22nd within the injunction filed by the civil associations, which are poised to win another definitive suspension.

This hearing was scheduled to be held this Thursday, but was postponed because some of the defendants have not responded to the reports requested by the federal judge.

Meanwhile, Semarnat and Sedena have filed a series of challenges, which have been filed in the Cancún Circuit Collegiate Courts.

They argue that their actions are legal and that they have complied with environmental mitigation measures.

So far they have not been proven right.