“I would really like to underline the fact that intimidation tactics or the abuse of power is not something I will be silent on,” says Teul
Village Council elections are around the corner, and slates are being organized to contest the local elections. That’s a normal occurrence in this season; however, a group of residents from Big Falls, a village of 1,500, have come forward to protest what they say was an unprecedented occurrence in their village—the dispatch of heavily armed police to a community meeting, which led to the alleged abuse of a well-known community leader and conservationist from Toledo.
Bartolo Teul, the program manager in charge of community outreach and livelihoods for the Ya’axché Conservation Trust in Toledo, said that he was roughed up by armed police, arrested and slapped with trumped up charges after questioning Toledo West Area Representative Juan Coy, the Minister of State/Ministry of Human Development and Social Transformation, on issues of public concern.
“Villagers who witnessed this outrageous incident are gravely concerned and are asking what next?” said a press release from a group of 12 villagers. “Are we now under a form of dictatorship where citizens are not allowed to think independently? …This coarse and crude attack on our freedom of speech is absolutely unacceptable.”
Teul said that two comments may have angered Coy that evening. The first was when Coy allegedly said something, while Teul was questioning Coy, about “little boy.”
“I reminded him that I am not the one who was scolded at a village meeting and told to grow up to be a man,” said Teul.
He also believes Coy’s corns might have ached when he, Teul, challenged the Minister’s direct involvement in taking land applications to Belmopan, claiming that the people who had been handling the paperwork before were inefficient.
This is a case of a friendly alliance gone sour: By Teul’s own admission to us, he publicly campaigned for Coy before he became area representative, and he used to emcee for Coy’s events as well.
However, Teul, who had recently challenged Coy over hydro-development concerns in Toledo at a prior meeting, contends that the arrest was to both intimidate and humiliate him.
“I think this clearly is an intimidation tactic to sort of get people afraid of voicing their opinion when they disagree with certain things a political office wants to do…,” said Teul. “It is either my way or no way!”
Reports to our newspaper say there were six police officers, including a female and a special branch male in plain clothes, armed with an SLR [self-loading rifle] gun, an M16 rifle, a 9mm gun and batons.
Amandala understands that Teul’s cell phone was confiscated by police when he tried to place a call. In handcuffs, Teul was taken into police custody on Sunday, March 7, and charged. He was formally arraigned on Tuesday, March 9, but pleaded not guilty to the charges of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. Interestingly, there is no other charge to explain what had triggered his arrest in the first place. Teul was released on $700 bail, and the case adjourned until May 11, when he is to appear with his attorney Antoinette Moore.
Eyewitnesses say that they did not see Teul assault the police. An officer was pushing him down a steep slope, where the center is located, and he held on to the officer so he would not fall down, said the reports.
He, as well as three other villagers we spoke with, said that they have never had armed police at their community meetings.
Regino Hernandez, who attended the meeting, told our newspaper that Coy was demanding the microphone from Teul when he was raising questions, challenging the Minister for openly presenting and endorsing a slate for the Village Council elections.
According to Maria Aleman, chair of the Water Board of Big Falls, the group promised electricity in the new site of the village, extension of water services in the area of the Dump at Mile 4, improvement of farm roads and the giving of lands to needy people.
Dionicio Choco was reportedly presented for chairman. The other six contenders on his slate asked the community’s support and said they would support their leader.
Coy wanted Teul to give up the microphone, but Teul told him there were two mikes and he should get the other one, because he was not quite finished with what he wanted to say, said Aleman, who thinks Teul was subjected to an injustice for voicing his opinion and telling the truth.
After the arrest of Teul, said Hernandez, there was a walk-out from the meeting.
Petrona Coy, another villager, said that Teul did not use any obscene language or make any threats to the Minister.
He told us that there is a community group that is also organizing a slate: “I am in that group,” he said, adding that since Sunday’s incident, he is giving serious consideration to running in the local elections.
Teul is also a former alcalde of Big Falls, a former PTA chair, a former secretary of the village council and member of the Water Board.
Although the main political parties have been open in claiming village council election victories of late, “That has not become customary [here in Big Falls], not in Mayan villages. It does not work so,” said Teul. “It’s the people who decided; it’s village politics not partisan politics.”
The United Democratic Party (UDP) and the Government of Belize, under the administration of the UDP, have both ignored the issues raised by the Big Falls residents in their press release, as neither has bothered to issue any statement in response. Coy himself has been silent and unavailable to the media, despite numerous attempts to reach him.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow, UDP party leader, who we contacted today for comment, is reportedly down with the flu.