Channel 7 Evening News of October 18, 2007, reported as follows on the ruling of the Chief Justice on the Law suite brought against the Government of Belize by the Maya in the Villages of Santa Cruz and Conejo:
“When he delivered his judgment this morning – the Chief Justice said that he had been greatly influenced by the 2004 decision of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. Ironically, that petition was filed with the Commission in August of 1998 by leading PUP attorneys – as the Mayas – encouraged by the PUP – were at that time advancing a case against UDP granted logging concessions to Malaysian companies. But when the judgment came down in October of 2004 – the PUP government had to reap a bitter harvest.The judgment upheld the Mayas customary land rights and said the government was ignoring them. Predictably, government did nothing, and the judgment was put to one side.”
Following the decision of the Chief Justice on October 18, 2007, the Belize Times, on Page 4 of its Sunday, October 28, 2007, Edition, carried a news report on the decision of the Chief Justice under the caption, “Landmark Decision” says Prime Minister RT. Hon. Said Musa. In the report, the Prime Minister was quoted as follows –
“I say, this decision was very important because the indigenous people for centuries have been disadvantaged in the colonial era. They were pushed aside and told to live in reservations; they couldn’t come like they are doing now to come and live in Belmopan and villages around Belmopan. They couldn’t come and live even in this part of the world.”
Belizeans, what was the Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Said Musa talking about? Those words spoken by Prime Minister Musa, when put in perspective, show the Prime Minister’s statement as nothing more than a statement of political expedience.
I say so because from 1964 to 1981, during the era of Belize’s Internal Self-government, when our Leaders were in control of our internal affairs, nothing really changed with respect to the Maya; they were still “pushed aside – – – – they couldn’t come and live in this part of the world”.
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister went on to say, in the Belize Times report, “We do recognize that as indigenous people they have certain cultural and land rights which all Belizeans must recognize and the court has found in their favor. We respect that decision. In fact, I think it was a landmark decision. In other words, their lifestyle is such and their farming practice is such that they want to have communal land. They don’t want one person to own it, because of the style of agriculture they practice; it’s called a shifting cultivation. They farm it, and then they allow it to fallow for so many years so that it can become nutritious again, and then they go back to it and farm it again. And that is why they have this communal style of living.”
Yes Belizeans, this is the same Prime Minister Musa who, in December, 2003, said, “The important thing is, I will not preside over the balkanization of Belize! A homeland just for Garifuna, just for Creole; all of Belize belongs to all of us. That’s the first principle.”
Almost four years later, Prime Minister Musa says, “Now, we as Belizean people have to understand these things; so we don’t have any enmity between one Belizean and another Belizean. But we also say to the Maya leaders that they must understand that any Belizean who wants to go and live in Toledo has a right to go and live in Toledo as well.” posted (October 18, 2007)
As we talk about “the Politics of Expedience”, according to the Channel 7 report on October 18, 2007, “There were other stars in the courtroom today. Lawyer Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington declared