PUNTA GORDA TOWN, Fri. July 16, 2021– According to reports, on Wednesday, rangers of the Boden Creek Land and Cattle Company property found a quantity of sticks about a mile inside the Fig Tree Road Entrance. The bush sticks appeared to be unclaimed, and as a result, the manager of the property, Robert Pennel, gave the authorization for the sticks to be cut into pieces.
What appeared to be an unclaimed heap of sticks, however, was actually a stack of bush sticks that one Mr. George Coy had obtained a customary use permit from the village of Indian Creek to harvest, and the villagers were incensed when they found out what had been done to the sticks. According to residents of the village, Coy had hired workers for the harvesting of the bush sticks, but by the time Mr. Coy was getting ready to transport the sticks, the rangers had already cut them into pieces using a chainsaw. That reportedly caused a financial loss for Coy, who had invested his funds in hiring workers to harvest the wood, which had been sawed to bits.
It was a misunderstanding, but to the residents of Indian Creek, it was also an affront to their system of granting customary use permits, and to the authority they exercise over the resources of the land they communally own. Outraged villagers of Indian Creek reportedly met at a meeting hosted by the village’s alcalde to determine how to address what they perceived as a violation of their rights and authority. Following this meeting, the villagers summoned the rangers. They then proceeded to detain them and fined them $55. Pennel, the manager of the Boden Creek Land and Cattle Company, is also alleging that Cristina Coc, of the Mayan Leaders Alliance (MLA), allegedly broke the locks and chains of the company’s property and trespassed onto it to capture photos of the bush sticks in question.
The community of Indian Creek has requested government intervention. They are insisting that the Government of Belize stop the rangers’ intrusion onto their land and the rangers’ disruption of the way the villagers use their land and natural resources. They are basing their claim on a Consent Order issued by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which stipulated that consent must be obtained by the government from Mayan villagers prior to the use of any lands over which the villagers exercise customary land rights, and the government must cease and desist from any use of resources on those lands for which they have not received such consent.
According to reports, however, the land on which the incident occurred, while located in the vicinity of Mayan customary lands, became privately owned prior to the issuance of the CCJ order that grants Mayans the right to communal ownership of lands they presently inhabit. The people of Indian Creek have indicated that they might present a case based on what they see as a clear breach of their indigenous rights by the rangers, to the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The Communal Land Tenure system serves as means to ensure that the government and large foreign companies recognize indigenous land rights and prevents them from exploiting resources within Mayan villages.
Amandala tried to reach out to Ms. Cristina Coc for comments, but was not able to do so.. We will be following up on the issue.