Photo: Non-communal village leaders unite

Garifuna, Kriol and East Indian community leaders make united stand in opposition of communal land ruling in the south leading to encroachment of Maya farmers into their traditional village lands

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 26, 2023

On Thursday, October 26th, non-Mayan communities in the Toledo District held a joint press conference at the Swift Hall in Belize City to make a united stand against the CCJ 2015 Consent Order and the ripple effect that it has been having on non-Mayan communities who are now being faced with boundary disputes and illegal annexation of their lands.

‘’We have a right to our land as well,’’ declared Beatriz Mariano, Chairlady of Barranco Village as she stood up to send out a resounding ‘’No’’ to being included in the path of the Consent Order without being formally notified or consulted. Mariano shared that, as the chairperson of Barranco Village, she wasn’t even aware that a portion of Barranco Village has been demarcated and is now called ‘’Mayan land.’’

According to her, she only became aware of the issue when she visited the Lands Department in 2022, where she was presented with a map of the new boundaries under the ruling. She said that as a result of this, her villagers have been blocked from conducting any land transaction at the Lands Department, and have been noting with concern the repeated encroachment of Mayan farmers into Barranco Village.

‘’They have been coming to Barranco land and opening farms; they believe that the Consent Order gives them ultimate jurisdiction over everything to do and claim more land. We have also been noticing that some of these people are Kekchi Guatemalans who have been invited here by their families, and who also believe that they are privy to the ruling as well,’’ said Mariano as she described the situation in Barranco Village.

In Mafredi Village, which is an East Indian community located in the Toledo District and surrounded by 7 Mayan villages, the village Chairlady, Roxane Rodriguez is also alleging that her village also falls under communal land jurisdiction. She too is questioning the decision which she says was never put to the villagers, the majority of whom are farmers and who live off their land and crops.

Egbert Jacobs, Chairman of Jacintoville, which is located 8 miles outside of Punta Gorda Town, is also calling on the Government to heed the cries of his people and prioritize their reports of encroachment of a Mayan village into their village boundary. Jacobs is asking the Government to take action and go into the village to conduct a proper demarcation exercise, as he too echoed his stance in solidarity with the other non-communal communities and their cries to the Government to address the dire situation in the Toledo District.

Also present at the head table was Harold Usher, Chairman of Yemeri Grove. Usher and his villagers are currently engaged in a live dispute with the Mayan community of Laguna over the demarcation of their village borders.

But while there is tension between both communities, Usher indicated that it hasn’t been that way in the past, and that both villages used to coexist in harmony. He said that all that changed since the 2015 ruling, which he says has resulted in their neighbors constantly expanding their borders into what he says is the Yemeri Grove boundary; something he says that his villagers are in opposition to, since they also have use for their village land, to conduct farming, or distribute to their younger generation who are also in need of land.

‘’Yes, we respect that there was a Consent Order, and we acknowledge that. The courts said that we must respect the Maya land rights; but the court didn’t tell them that they could go and have a million acres in the Toledo District; it didn’t say that. It also didn’t tell them that they could actually walk into the next people’s village and just take what they wanted. The court also told them that they must respect private property, and that they must respect any villages that are their neighbor. But obviously, that is not happening.’’

Usher said that his people are not pleading with the Government of Belize to step in and address the situation. He however is calling for impartiality, since he says that the Government has selected persons, the majority of whom are of Maya descent connected to the Maya Leaders Association to oversee the process.

The group of non-Mayan village leaders was assembled under the National Kriol Council whose president, Marlyn Garvin says that the situation on the ground is ‘’alarming”. Garvin also sent out a call to the Government to address the various concerns of the non-Mayan communities, asking that they be treated fairly and without prejudice, while being afforded their rights as Belizean citizens.

The group of village leaders had bonded together following emerging tensions in the south between Laguna Village and Yemeri Grove surrounding land controversy and the proper demarcation of village borders. The Government had attempted to broker a deal between both villages, but that appears to have backfired, with villagers of Yemeri Grove expressing their discontent with the agreement and the proposed boundary.