Without Sand there is no Tourist Destination: Dynamics of Capitalism in the Mexican Caribbean

The article exposes an environmental criticism of the sand extraction that occurred in 2009 in the Mexican Caribbean. Epistemologically, the research delves into the political economy as the main basis, in addition to being supported by critical geography, radical ecology and environmental history in order to show the unequal development through tourist activity in the northern zone of Quintana Roo (Mexico). The general objective of the article is to understand through political economy (ecological imperialism, the four cheaps and the metabolic rift) what motivates the search for raw material for capital accumulation. To respond to the central objective, a qualitative methodology was used, which consisted of a review of: a) specialized bibliography, b) government documents and c) notes from national, regional and local newspapers. Regarding the development of the investigation, it focused on providing the location of the sandbanks, the actors involved, the beneficiaries and the environmental effects.