Recommendations Put Forward by Opposition on Chiquibul Crisis

Francis Fonseca

With input from the rangers and front line personnel who took them out there, the P.U.P. also prepared a list of recommendations which Fonseca presented today.

Francis Fonseca, P.U.P. Leader

“Government must convene an urgent meeting of all relevant stakeholders: inclusive of government, opposition, Friends for Conservation and Development, Tour Guides Association, B.T.B., NICH, Forestry, the Ministry of Natural Resources and our security forces—the B.D.F. and the Belize Police Department. Two…there are three existing conservation posts: Tapir, Rio Blanco and Ceibo Chico. New posts are to be constructed at Camp Valentin, Caballo which is further north and Cebada and these must be completed urgently. Three…establish a forty member environmental police unit to work alongside F.C.D. and the B.D.F. to man these posts and protest our reserves. Four…each conservation posts should be manned by a force of not less than twenty at any point in time, twenty-four hours a day. Five…approve a fixed budgetary allocation of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars each year to Friends for Conservation and Development to strengthen their effectiveness and allow them to increase their number of rangers from six to twenty-four. Six…the Ministry of Natural Resources needs to coordinate the removal of survey lines and pegs which have been illegally put down by Guatemalan nationals in Belizean territory. Seven…government must coordinate the clearing of the many large milpa farms that are now under development in the Chiquibul Forest and in the Caracol Archaeological Reserve. Eight…there must be engagement with the Guatemalan authorities particularly those with responsibility for the village of La Rejoya in Guatemala, which as we understand it is about fifteen hundred feet from the Belize border and has a population of about two thousand. And nine…there needs to be an all-weather road leading into the Chiquibul National Forest which can be secured and manned at all times.”

Fonseca ended his statement by reaffirming the commitment of the Opposition to the Belize/Guatemalan joint commission, and his Party’s support to the twelve points of agreement arrived at in a meeting over the weekend.