Amandala has finally been able to get an update on the status of the Santa Rosa relocation project being conducted under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS). As we reported last week, the last population figure provided to us five years ago indicated that 134 Guatemalans (19 families) had illegally settled in the village, located on the Belize side of the border. The bottom line is, not much has changed. In fact, indications from the OAS are that no family has been relocated to Guatemala under the OAS project to date, even though two families have evidently moved away.
The Santa Rosa issue is critical in the context of Guatemala’s unfounded century-old claim on Belize’s territory. The illegal settlement/encroachment of an entire village of Guatemalans – and the Government of Belize’s apparent inability to force their evacuation – have raised serious issues about Belize’s territorial integrity. Under OAS-mediated talks between Belize and Guatemala, the matter has been placed in the hands of the OAS.
While we have still been unable to get any information or comment at all from the Belize Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Santa Rosa issue, we have gotten a response from the OAS, indicating that there are still 102 Guatemalans living at Santa Rosa, 52% of them children.
The information came to us via e-mail from Miguel Angel Trinidad, director of the Office of the Secretary General of the OAS at the Belize-Guatemala border. Trinidad had told us last week that he was unable to provide immediate answers to our questions because he had to consult with headquarters.
A press release issued by the OAS in Washington, USA, on Friday, September 7, 2007, indicated that a progress report had been given to “Friends of Belize and Guatemala.” That is when our newspaper asked for more details and a copy of the report.
However, that copy has not been provided, and Trinidad told us that the reports are “exclusive material of the diplomatic negotiations between Belize and Guatemala with the support of the OAS.”
We asked Trinidad to describe the progress with the relocation project. He informed us that the population of Santa Rosa, according to the updated Census and Registries that the Office of the Organization of American States in the Adjacency Zone (OAS) carried out, is 102 persons (17 families): 20 women, 29 men, 28 girls and 25 boys. The census indicates that there are only two families less living at the village since the last report was given in 2002—five years ago.
“The most important topic in the resettlement of Santa Rosa is the final phase of the work with the community of Santa Rosa and the identifying, assessment and acquisition of the land that is intended for the final resettling of the community,” Trinidad wrote.
We understand that the relocation should take place at the end of October.
We queried a statement made in the press release regarding “the purchase of lands to which the community is being resettled.” We asked: Where is this land located, who is financing the purchase, and at what cost?
“The land where the Santa Rosa families will be resettled is situated in the Guatemala, outside of the Adjacency Zone [a zone spanning one kilometer on each side of the border]. The funds for the acquisition of the land are being provided by some of the donating countries of the Group of Member Friends of Belize and Guatemala and OAS. The acquisition of the land is not being made with any funds from the governments of Belize or Guatemala,” Trinidad said. [Emphasis ours.]
Even though the OAS press release of September 7 says that there is an urgent need for central aspects of this Santa Rosa resettlement project to be concluded ahead of elections in both countries, when we asked Trinidad about the significance of settling the Santa Rosa issue before elections in Belize and Guatemala, his reply was that there is “no connection with the election processes of any of the two countries.”
According to Trinidad, the key challenges the OAS is facing with the OAS project include the consultation process, and obtaining information from the Guatemalans on their needs, culture and way of life.
The resettlement of Santa Rosa comes out of Confidence Building Measures signed by Belize and Guatemala on September 7, 2005, Trinidad informed, adding that the OAS is responsible to execute the resettlement and “to identify the future land for the resettlement, its quality and its legal status.” [Emphasis ours.]
Our final question regarding the “substantive issues” that cannot be settled until this Santa Rosa issue is cleared up was not answered and we were told that, “Only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belize and Guatemala along with the Secretary General of OAS are authorized to speak with details in regards to this matter.”
We note that in our last attempt to speak with Foreign Affairs CEO, Amalia Mai, today, we were told that she was unavailable and working on a foreign policy booklet. We again left a message for her, indicating that we would still like to speak with her on the Santa Rosa matter.