Cabinet Meets to Discuss Maya Customary Land Tenure Policy

Cabinet convened in special session on Monday in San Ignacio to receive presentations and engage in discussions concerning the Maya Customary Land Tenure Policy. This policy is integral to fulfilling the government’s commitments as outlined in the Caribbean Court of Justice’s Consent Order. One of its primary objectives is to delineate the land rights of the Maya people. Ministers got the opportunity to engage in an in-depth review of the matter provided by G.O.B.’s legal experts Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck and Commissioner of Indigenous Affairs, Greg Ch’oc. According to Minister of Human Development, Families and Indigenous People’s Affairs, Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Cabinet has been given instructions on how to move forward in an expedited manner.

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Human Development, Families & Indigenous People’s Affairs

“It has been accepted by our parliamentary group. We have been given certain instructions in moving forward because it is clear that government now needs to move towards not only filing the policy before the Caribbean Court of Justice who exercised supervisory jurisdiction, but now we have to move towards the administrative and legislative framework. We are hoping that this can be done in about a year and a half because the court themselves, the judges of the C. C. J. themselves have said that they don’t want to be dealing with this beyond ten years, and it’s we’re already at year eight. So if they would like to wrap it up and not have to be supervising us for another five years or whatever we need to work assiduously and quickly to try to wrap up that legislative framework. What I can tell you, it won’t be easy because many, many issues have arisen and where we would like to recognise all the private land ownership in recognising communal ownership we will have to do a very delicate balancing act.”