The group has secured 100 machetes and asks other nationalist groups to join them

Wil Maheia, Punta Gorda nationalist, activist and leader of the People’s National Party (PNP), told Amandala today that last year a group of concerned Belizeans came together and formed a group dedicated to protecting our Belizean patrimony — the “Belize Territorial Volunteers.”

The group’s mission is simple: “We exist to educate our people as to the reality of our Western border and to maintain a watchful eye, to ensure that Belize’s territorial sovereignty is never called into question.”

The group was formed, Maheia said, because our borders have been neglected and as a result, there have been several incursions into our beautiful, sovereign country.

Recently, there have been an increasing number of incursions and as a result, some villagers have been negatively affected. Guatemalans, said Maheia, have come into the villages and pillaged people’s farms and stolen their horses.

Many times when they are caught, he said, they claim ignorance about entering Belizean territory.

On March 2, 2013, the Belize Territorial Volunteers will begin a project called “Clearing Our Borderline.” They will be joined by various partners who share our love for this nation, including the Belize Coalition for Justice, People’s National Party, COLA and other organizations.

The clearing will start in the village of Jalacte and will continue to the marker point near the village of San Benito Poite, in the Toledo District.

The length of the clearing would be about six miles, we were told, although, according to Maheia, they would like to do the entire border with help from other concerned groups, including one from Cayo.

The width of the clearing would be three feet. Maheia said that they would like to emulate what the British soldiers had done when they were taking care of the border. The soldiers created “corn markers,” he said, which were simply a pile of rocks every 1,000 yards along a trail that was cut by the soldiers at the border. It resembled a trail that a surveyor would use, he said.

To date, Maheia said, they have secured 100 machetes to start the project.

Other organizations and concerned Belizeans who wish to join this effort can call or text Maheia at telephone number 610-0978 or send a message to his Facebook inbox.