Traditional Alcaldes Represent Maya Communities

Cristina Coc

In putting forward its position, the judicial system, at the Supreme Court and C.C.J. levels, has very precise about who the representatives of the Maya communities are.  It is a point that the TAA/MLA spokesperson also made clear during Thursday’s press conference, following a session with the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Cristina Coc, Spokesperson, TAA/MLA

“The court was very clear today, we are very clear who the appellants are, we are very clear who has been leading this struggle for a long, long time.  Consistently, it has been our traditional alcaldes.  Consistently, we have gone to the courts on behalf of our communities and we have championed these various victories at the courts and so now, in the words of one of our elders, when the caldo done fix everybody wahn come and share di bowl.  But it’s important to underscore the fact that it amounts to a complete disregard and undermining of the Maya people’s traditional governance system.  It is in fact, and I will call it that, a divide and conquer tactic, but the Maya people’s unity has never wavered.  We have always stood united as a people, we will continue to stand united as a people.  We have, as you heard our president say, we have our elders.  We have our communities and, as Justice Wit said, you might not have one hundred percent support behind you but you cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good and I think that that is resounding for us.  We have made some progress, we want to continue to be open to this government to meet with us respectfully and in good faith.  We expect that to be led by concrete actions and not just, you know these symbolic gestures.  We want to make sure that our government is treating us with due respect.”

Late this evening, the Sarstoon and Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, SATIIM, as well as the Toledo Maya Cultural Council and the Kekchi Council of Belize issued a statement calling on the Julian Cho Society and the Maya Leaders Alliance to follow the recommendations of the Caribbean Court of Justice, that is, to welcome input from other Maya groups.  According to SATIIM, the Julian Cho Society has received upwards of a million dollars from the Land Tenure Facility to facilitate community consultations on Maya land tenure.  The release goes on to say that “J.C.S. has been insistent in only consulting with representatives of the Toledo Alcaldes Association which has resulted in conflict and division among Maya communities in a process that should instead unite them.”