Several officials in Belize, as well as the OAS, have indicated that the incursion at Santa Rosa issue is the single biggest obstacle to moving forward with the Belize-Guatemalan talks. Over the recent weeks attempts have been made to assure the Belizean public that Santa Rosa will be defunct by the end of the year.
“Timelines have been given before and deadlines have not been met,” said Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow, one of several Belizeans who are cautiously optimistic about the relocation promise, when our newspaper spoke with him Friday.
The Belize-Guatemala talks being held under the auspices of the Organization of the American States (OAS) – the agency leading the charge for the Santa Rosa relocation – continues to involve both major political parties, as well as delegations from Belize and Guatemala.
Barrow told our newspaper today that the Opposition’s position is, “That settlement has to be moved and put back onto Guatemalan territory.”
He noted, however, that the relocation has been taking longer than expected, but based on feedback provided to him by Opposition representatives, Ambassador Fred Martinez and Diane Haylock, he understands that at least the Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Gert Rosenthal, is genuine in his promise to support the relocation of Santa Rosa residents to Guatemala.
In our weekend edition dated September 20, we raised the question of whether the Santa Rosa residents can really be forced from Belizean territory.
We searched the relevant OAS documentation, which indicates that the departure of Santa Rosa residents is “voluntary.”
Section 9.a. of the September 7, 2005, Framework Agreement, signed for Belize by Chief Negotiator for Belize Assad Shoman, then Senior Ambassador with Ministerial Rank, says:
“Those settlers of the community known as Santa Rosa who individually or voluntarily wish to change their place of residence shall be offered the option of relocating to a new settlement in Guatemala, where the OAS General Secretariat, with the help of international cooperation, shall provide them with houses and land in accordance with Guatemalan law.” [Emphasis ours.]
Barrow said that although he gets the sense that things are going nowhere fast, he is prepared to wait a bit longer to see the relocation come to pass, in order for the peace to be preserved between the two countries.
Our records indicate that the illegal incursions of Guatemalans reached a peak in 2001, when a series of settlements cropped up in forest reserves on the Belize side of the border, in the South. They include Machaquilla, where there were 221 illegal Guatemalans discovered in the Chiquibul National Park in Belize in January 2001; Rio Blanco, where 104 Guatemalans were found to settle, also inside Chiquibul, after October 2000; and a third settlement near Valentin Camp (inside the Caracol Archaeological Reserve).
Measurements taken by the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH), an OAS affiliate, established that the settlements were well inside Belizean territory. The Government of Belize reported that illegal settlers were removed by a joint Belize-Guatemala Commission and witnessed by the Human Rights Commission of Belize, beginning March 1, 2001.
In February 2001, 12 Guatemalans were discovered clearing land in the Columbia River Forest Reserve in Toledo. Belizean military forces forced them to leave. Days later, a new illegal settlement of 35 families and 26 huts was discovered in the same area, well inside Belizean territory.
On March 5, 2001, the Government of Belize issued a statement announcing that all the illegal settlements had been removed and the thatch huts dismantled.
A press release issued by the OAS three weeks ago said Santa Rosa is “the last remaining material obstacle before we directly move into the substantive issues” in settling the Belize-Guatemala dispute.
In a speech delivered to the London House of Lords on November 6, 2006, Prime Minister Said Musa had said that, “The illegal settlement at Santa Rosa must be removed in accordance with the Framework Agreement [quoted above]. The census has been taken and the settlers have volunteered to leave. The land has been identified and we expect that Guatemala will honor its commitment to the removal of the settlers as soon as the conditions on the ground permit.” [Emphasis ours.]
And since the Framework Agreement of September 2005 speaks of voluntary participation in the relocation program, Opposition Leader Barrow finds that really, under the agreement, there is no way to oblige Santa Rosa residents to leave, a revelation he finds “unsettling.”
He supposes, however, that the respective authorities will get around that by saying that they have all agreed to go.
“I don’t know if that’s strictly speaking true. They can change their minds,” he added.
For him, the reality is that there is still Santa Rosa, and even though officials say things have been set in motion for the relocation, “the plain fact is, it has not happened.”
Barrow said that the last resort is for Belize to force the departure of Santa Rosa residents, and he does not think anyone is contemplating that at this juncture.
What is clear is that tensions along the Belize-Guatemala border, surrounding the illegal settlements, the harvesting of the xate palm, and confrontations between Belizean security officers and illegal entrants from Guatemala, as well as Guatemalan security forces, have considerably subsided in recent years.
We understand that all attempts are being made under the OAS-mediation to encourage a peaceful resolution to the outstanding issues.
Barrow told us that he wants to see the diplomacy work and he hopes that the relocation will, in the end, come to pass.
As to the question of whether any Guatemalan born at Santa Rosa can insist on rights to stay in Belize, Barrow opined that, “Even if they have been born there, they have to go.”
“I don’t know if there is any recording of their birth. It was always understood that Santa Rosa is an illegal settlement. In other jurisdictions, the fact that you’ve been born in a country…in places like Australia…the mere fact of being born there does not entitle you to stay. If the parents were there illegally, the accident of your birth cannot entitle you to all the attributes of citizenship,” Barrow said.
Indications are that while the Santa Rosa residents are being asked to leave voluntarily, if they don’t move on their own, Belize can still exercise its right to move them. Officials insist that the Santa Rosa residents have “agreed” to move, and all parties, we are told, are actively engaged in trying to bring the matter to a definitive close.
The Ramphal/Reichler proposals of 2002, which Guatemala was the first to reject, had said that the villagers should be allowed to stay in the village “for the rest of their natural lives,” or in the case of those voluntarily wishing to resettle in Guatemala, they should be given preferential right of occupancy to a special settlement in Guatemala. It also said that the Belize Government should offer Santa Rosa residents alternative land at no cost if they “voluntarily relinquish their right to continue to reside in Santa Rosa.” [Emphasis ours] The proposals went on to say that the offspring of Santa Rosa residents born in Belize shall have the right to citizenship and enjoy protection under Belizean law.
(NOTE: Diane Haylock, who represents the Leader of the Opposition at Ministerial meetings for the OAS-mediated Belize-Guatemala talks, told us that the Opposition continues to be involved in the talks – the last meeting having been held in Washington in late August.
Other key members of the negotiating team are Chief Negotiator Assad Shoman, Foreign Affairs Minister Lisa Shoman, and Belize’s Ambassador to Guatemala Fred Martinez. On occasions, Dylan Vernon, chair of the Advisory Council on the Guatemalan Claim, and Belize’s Ambassador to the UK, attend meetings with them.)