Enrique Makin and Euphemio Makin, the chairman and alcalde of Conejo Village respectively, have written the local agent, Alistair King, of US Capital Energy Limited in Belize, the company exploring for oil in the area of the Sarstoon-Temash National Park in Toledo, to ask them to stop all their activities on their communal lands, because the village did not grant them permission to run seismic lines in the village.
The Maya of Toledo claim ancestral land rights to the villages they occupy, but Conejo is one of two villages which in 2007 had gotten those rights endorsed by the Supreme Court of Belize.
In their letter to King, the Makins complain that last Tuesday, January 17, 2012, they found out that seismic line #8 actually ran through village lands at Conejo Lagoon, and into Vieras Creek. They also specified the GPS coordinates of the lines.
“Conejo is requesting that the oil company stop any and all activities within our community land,” the Makins tell King. “We look forward to your cooperation in this matter.”
King told Amandala when we contacted him right after receiving a copy of the letter, that he had just received the letter this morning, but the activities in Conejo have ceased. He told us that it was an error during the process of surveying and no seismic activities were actually conducted on the ancestral lands. He said that the area is “all bush” and they did not realize that they had gone over the boundary line for their seismic survey; and when they realized it, they stopped the work.
“It was just a mistake,” said King, indicating also that this is the first such complaint from Maya leaders claiming such an infraction.
Asked if he would consider compensation for the Maya village, King said he is prepared to talk with them to see what they can do to cooperate with the Maya leaders.
He added that 236 people have been employed from the perimeter villages that surround the oil exploration project.