Photo: Hon. Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources
by Charles Gladden
TOLEDO DISTRICT, Wed. Dec. 13, 2023
A ceremony was held on Saturday, December 9, in Yemeri Grove Village, Toledo District, to mark the receipt by 138 Toledo District residents of the purchase price approval for their land.
“The truth of the matter is that this country, our landmass is finite; it’s not infinite. Every time someone gets a piece of land, it gets smaller, and, in the past, over many years there’s been a handful of people who’ve gotten big chunks of land, and that left very little for the people who don’t have, and our job is to make sure the people who don’t have land get land,” said Hon. Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources, during his remarks at the ceremony.
Minister Hyde added, “This was an opportunity for us to formally hand over those purchase approvals. We don’t get to do this often because we have so much work, but he [Hon. Oscar Requena] wanted to [do] this formally with his people, to signal to them that the work is abreast; and we will do all we can to make [as] many of them get land as possible.”
Area representative for Toledo West, Hon. Oscar Requena, who was present at the distribution ceremony, told local reporters, “I’m happy that we have young people [and] senior citizens; it’s a very diverse cross-section of our population, and many of them are first-time Belizean land-owners. They have not had a piece of land, so they are happy [and] excited in owning a little piece of this Jewel.”
As mentioned by Minister Requena, all of the persons present will be first-time landowners. The media spoke to several recipients who got their documents that day.
“It feels good to own a piece of land now, because many people go out there and don’t have a piece of land; and I’m glad that I’m one of them, and that I have a piece of land. Now, I can work on it. I can build my house or choose what I want to do with it. It feels great to own a piece of land,” said Filiberta Cowo, a resident of Punta Gorda.
“I am delighted, to be honest,” said Aislynn Juarez, a resident of Punta Gorda. “At the age of 27-years-old, I get to own a piece of this Jewel. I have plans to develop it and pass it down to my daughter.”