US Capital attorney claims Toledo Maya oil fight rooted in share of petroleum pie
Greg Ch’oc, executive director of the Sarstoon Temash Institute of Indigenous Management (SATIIM), said that the NGO and the Maya communities of Toledo which have joined them to challenge a decision by the Government of Belize to grant a petroleum concession over what they insist is their ancestral lands.
“…will not stop until we achieve [our] rights guaranteed by the Constitution.”
In a case lodged before the Supreme Court last year, SATIIM led a claim against the Government of Belize and US Capital Energy, challenging the decision to permit the company to drill in the Sarstoon National Park and to furthermore grant a concession to the company without the free, prior, informed consent of the Maya – as specified in the Maya land rights ruling by former Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh.
However, Michael Peyrefitte, the attorney for US Capital, told the media today that the Maya want the company to drill, and Peyrefitte said that the only reason the Maya have gone to court is that they want a bigger share of the pie that other Belizean landowners would get from petroleum production.
“It’s about money,” insisted Peyrefitte, who also sits as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
He said that the Maya only came to court when there was an issue over what “cut” of the pie Maya leadership would get, and the Maya have done a good job at portraying what “big time victims” they are, when it all comes down to their share of the pie.
We asked Peyrefitte what evidence was presented to the court to buttress this claim that he made to the media today.
“Nothing,” he candidly replied.
He added that judgment on the matter is due next Thursday, and he does not want to comment on the merits of the case.
Speaking to the media today—after the court decided to postpone a request by SATIIM for an injunction against US Capital—Ch’oc said, “It’s too easy to simplify the struggle of the poorest people in this country. It’s too easy for anyone in high power to characterize and misjudge the principles and the struggle of [the Maya]… but having said what he [Peyrefitte] said, I want to be clear here that everybody deserves to live in dignity, everybody deserves their rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution of this country, to be affirmed and to be taken into account in any undertaking – whether it’s done by Government, whether it’s done by private sector or any individual. No one should be denied those rights.”
He said that they are merely asking for justice due to them:
“So if asking for assurance for environmental justice is too much, if asking for respect for the rights of indigenous peoples is too much, if asking for respect for the rule of law is too much… then it speaks a lot of the mindset of those who lead this country, because all of those that I just described is grounded in the Constitution of this country. That’s what we’ve been fighting for,” he furthermore commented.
Last week, Alistair King, US Capital’s representative in Belize, told Amandala that the company is working on driving piles at Temash #2, where they plan to put an oil rig. The rig should arrive from Guatemala in April, because US Capital intends to start drilling at the site by mid-May.