G.O.B. has to Recognize Rights of Private Land Owners in Toledo
Dolores Balderamos-Garcia
Earlier today, the Belize Indigenous Alliance for Collective Resiliance, a non-profit organization based in Punta Gorda, also issued a release, standing in solidarity with the Toledo Alcaldes Association. The organization, “urges the government to revisit the drafting process of the Maya Customary Land Policy, with sincerity and inclusion”. Notwithstanding that position, the Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs went on to say that government has an obligation to recognize the rights of private land owners.
Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs
“We will have to recognize private land ownership, so there may have to be carve outs. I think our legal advisor said that the map may look a little bit like Swiss cheese because you will have to have carve-outs. But please, you are not talking to the expert, you are talking to the minister, but not the land expert. We will have to consult the Attorney General’s ministry, our chief legal advisor, Mr. Marshalleck, and we will have to consult with the people on the ground. But I hate to have to repeat this, but the Belizean people must know that although we have every respect for indigenous rights and land tenure, the Maya people of the Toledo District may not own the entire Toledo District. And so, that is as frank and as truthful as I can put it right now.”
Isani Cayetano
“In your discussion with the land experts in coming up with this policy, was there any conversation as to a formula how it was arrived upon 0.75 and 1.8 miles from the center of the village…”
Dolores Balderamos-Garcia
“No. That is not what we said. What was proposed, if I can recall correctly, is a two kilometer radius from the village center going out. So you throw the stone in the pond and then it ripples out. But that is a proposal and we will have to reconsider for smaller villages and we’d have to reconsider for larger villages. And that is basically what is on the table.”
