Greg Ch’oc to Step Down as Commissioner of Indigenous Peoples Affairs

Greg Ch’oc

Commissioner of Indigenous Peoples Affairs Greg Ch’oc is stepping down from that post later this month when his contract with the Government of Belize comes to an end.  He has been serving in that role under the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs for the past three years and is also returning to private life as an attorney-at-law.  But who will replace him and how will that office carry on with the work that has been set out by the Briceño Administration.  We turn once again to Minister Dolores Balderamos-Garcia who heads that government department.

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs

“I can confirm that Greg Ch’oc had a three-year contract that started in January 2021.  It is coming to an end, I think, around the twenty-third or twenty-fourth of January, and I can confirm that it was mutually agreed that he would depart and return to his private practice as an attorney-at-law.  And I want to take this opportunity to thank him for his services, his stellar services, really, a yeoman’s service, if I could put it that way, putting the shoulder to the wheel and really reaching out.  We thank him very, very much for his service.”

Isani Cayetano

“Has there been an effort thus far to look for someone who would replace him in that capacity?”

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

“Well, I don’t believe in hiding things.  The thinking, the policy thinking our government and my ministry is that we wouldn’t be searching for a commissioner.  We’re looking for someone in the nature of a director, commissioner sounds very colonial, you know, and we thought that we would go to a director or an office manager of the Office of Indigenous Peoples Affairs in Punta Gorda.  So we have one or two technical people who will be there.  We are in the process of seeking the replacement, but not in the nomenclature of commissioner, but certainly of a director, and we are looking around because we would have to find somebody who is competent and adequate.”