_{Photo: Brigadier General Azriel Loria, Commander of the BDF}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Wed. Apr. 24, 2024

Illegal logging continues to occur in the Columbia Forest Reserve, which is located in the Toledo District inside the Belize-Guatemala border, despite efforts by the Belize Defence Force (BDF), who several weeks ago carried out the destruction of bridges built by Guatemalan loggers.

In February of this year, the BDF discovered two wooden bridges that were reportedly built by Guatemalan intruders to facilitate the transportation of a variety of hardwood logs that were placed on trucks that had been taking the timber from Belize to Guatemala through an illegally constructed road that is over a mile long.

In March, the BDF notified the local media of the destruction of the bridges and further stated that soldiers had been deployed to maintain a military presence in the area to prevent those loggers from returning.

“We already destroyed two of the bridges … for these things … of course, you know that as we destroy, new ones are built. So, it is something that we are always chasing after, always ensuring that we stay on top of it,” said Hon. Florencio Marin, Minister of National Defence and Border Security, to the media earlier this week.

A statement on Monday, April 22, issued by the Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV) indicating that the logging continues, however. According to the BTV, they ventured into the Colombia Forest Reserve for a four-day expedition from Thursday, April 18, to Sunday, April 21, and discovered several thousand board feet of lumber, evidently from trees that were cut down in the reserve.

“What is even more alarming is the establishment of a road inside the reserve facilitating this illegal activity, situated merely a few kilometers away from where the Belize Defence Force (BDF) is stationed,” the BTV’s statement noted. The BTV release further stated, “Urgent calls are directed towards the Forest Department and the BDF to swiftly intervene and put an end to this ongoing environmental degradation. Such actions not only undermine the integrity of protected areas but also pose a grave threat to biodiversity and ecological stability.”

Additionally, a member of the BTV group that had participated in the expedition has said publicly that several more pieces of freshly cut lumber, suspected to be Mahogany, Santa Maria, Sapodilla, and Cedar, were found on the ground near the Machaquila Reserve, where BDF soldiers are supposed to be stationed; and there were also tracks observed in the area leading into the forest.

Yesterday, the national media caught up with Brigadier General Azriel Loria, Commander of the BDF, who mentioned in an interview that there has been an ongoing issue with the Guatemalan loggers, especially in the dry season.

“We acknowledge that there is a lot of illegal logging going on, and this is not just for this year; all the years is the same thing during the dry season. That is when the villagers come across because they have villages strategically set up along the border, and that is very problematic… They don’t want to abide by the Confidence-Building Measures because, specifically the Guatemalan Army have not been [carrying out] a part of their regulations that are to dissuade their villagers from encroaching into Belize, and they have not been doing that. They are not living to their part of the Confidence-Building Measures,” he said.

General Loria further noted, “Whenever we encounter plantations, roads that are being built by Guatemalans or whoever, we have to, if it is within the one-kilometer buffer zone from the border, we must… we have to report it to the Ministry of National Defense and ask for a verification to occur; and sometimes the verification takes months.”

Loria noted that before the bridges were made known on the local news, they had destroyed a previous one; however, it was rebuilt by Guatemalan villagers. He also pleads with the environmental groups to step in, as he mentioned, based on a lack of presence in the area.

When Amandala contacted Wil Maheia, leader of the BTV, he mentioned that they would return to the reserve shortly.