Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Whenever one thinks about slavery, one usually thinks about slavery in America. Although it has been around since man began to think and form societies, the American history of slavery is the one that stands out most! The Romans had slaves, as did the Greeks, the Persians, and the strongest groups in the world as it was, back then, and it is still going on, to a lesser extent, into the 21st century! So, while I believe that we, our ancestors, were held in bondage for far too long and were treated as sub-humans, we share that history with many other peoples and races all over the world.

The reason that I bring this up is because the publisher of this newspaper forced me to read about the Caste War! I’m glad that he did, because that history and its relevance to Belize’s history are so intertwined, that I’m stupefied that we were almost completely denied any knowledge, or details, regarding this very important era that has had such a fundamental impact on the Jewel.

I didn’t know, for example, that in the 1850s, under the presidency of Santa Ana, another Trump in another era, Mexico was selling Mayan slaves to Cuba, and it was a thriving enterprise. 25 pesos a head for a human being! On one occasion, a slave ship was intercepted by the British, transporting slaves, and the slavers were brought to Belize City, tried and convicted, and received 4 years in prison. This was at the same time that we black people, supposedly free, were still living like slaves in our own country. There were so many indignities forced upon these people, living in their own land for thousands of years before the Spaniards interrupted their way of life. This is according to Nelson Reed, in his book The Caste War, which again, the publisher forced me to read.

I have since developed such admiration and respect for the Mayas, as I have become more familiar with this war. They were treated like animals, with no rights, had to convert to an alien religion, which they did, with fervor, and used it against their colonizers. They were taxed and drafted and again treated like animals until they couldn’t take it anymore. They killed as many of their oppressors as they could, using that machete as a weapon, mercilessly and methodically, even using biological warfare to get a leg up on the enemy—contaminating their water supply by soaking the clothes of those who had died of cholera in the water, almost instantly killing their enemies. Ingenious, I believe, for people considered savages!

I was totally unaware of the vital role Belize and the British played in determining some parts of the outcome of this war, playing one side against the other, as they have often done. Supplying arms and goods and intelligence for mahogany and henequen and mucho dinero. Also, in accepting thousands of refugees, which in the long run changed the demographics of the Jewel.

As I keep reading about this seminal moment in time on our own borders over 174 years ago, I grieve that most Belizeans are still totally unaware. Every year, tens of thousands of Belizeans cross the border to go to Chetumal, Bacalar, Cancun, Merida, all battlefields during the war, with absolutely no idea, or if so, only vaguely, of this very important time in history when an indigenous people couldn’t take it anymore, and did something about it!

All Belizeans should have a publisher who would force them to read about the Caste War of Yucatan. It would do them good. One of my biggest regrets in hindsight, is never having the honor of meeting and discussing this monumental struggle with Clinton Luna. I’m sure he’s out there somewhere, in some parallel universe, arguing with Canul and Pech and Patt and all those long gone and mostly forgotten, Maya freedom fighters!

Thanks to Evan X Hyde for his insistence, and for his decades-long struggle to try to educate, and also to encourage our leaders, to teach our children about the history and legacy of Belize, and its relationship with our neighbors. But our educational and religious institutions are haad aze, or in other words, intransigent, in their refusal to budge, for the most part! What are they afraid of?

Glen