What About Maya People who Do Not Want Customary Land Rights?

Cristina Coc

We also asked Coc about those Maya people who do not want to be part of the CCJ Consent Order and do not want to pursue customary land rights. She says that they are free to make their own decision.

Cristina Coc, Spokesperson, MLA/TAA

“The way that we have organized has always been through our direct representatives of the Maya villages.  The alcaldes represent all 41 Maya villages. The MLA and the TAA have been the appellants in this case. And so obviously they’ve been pursuing the legal recognition of our lands and territories. I am the representative of the Toledo Alcaldes Association by consensus from all 78, now 80, leaders, and the Maya Leaders Alliance, of course, is a coalition of Maya leaders who believe in the rights of Indigenous peoples and, um, So who do we represent? We represent the majority of Indigenous peoples that believe that we should have our rights recognized. Now, I know the next question is, well, what about those who don’t believe in it, who don’t want to pursue customary land rights? The work of the Maya Leaders Alliance and Toledo Alcaldes Association has always been to fight for the self determination of our people and the true sense of the word self determination is for you to be able to make your own decisions, to envision your own future, to determine your own future. And so it’s a self determined process. If there are individuals that feel that this does not serve their interests, then that is their right to make that decision. But by and large, the majority of our people continue to stand behind the protection of our customary land tenure system.”