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Narco gangs and farmers are accused of cutting down the rainforest to build clandestine airstrips and drug labs...threatening ancient Maya ruins.
Environmentalists claim 21% of the tropical forest since 1990 has been cleared by settlers, many working for narcos.
"The narcos use violence and poverty as tools to push into the reserve," said a human rights spokeswoman. "They cultivate land, put in some cattle, but often it's just a front." Poverty, malnutrition, unequal land distribution and the lack of state services gave many such communities little alternative, she said.
