Environmentalists oppose xate harvesting

Earlier in this newscast we heard from Bartolo Teul who was thrown out of a public meeting by heavily armed police at the orders of Minister of State, Juan Coy.  Teul claims the elected official grew irate when he raised concerns about the way he was running things in the south. Another issue which Teul said he has raised at a more national level is one involving the Xate trade in Belize.  He told News Five that he speaks on behalf of the Ya’axche conservation agency with which he works. Teul says that government needs to implement and monitor an organized and sustainable way of harvesting Xate in southern Belize.

Bartolo Teul, Prog. Mgr., Ya’axche Conservation Trust

“Most of the resources, especially Xate, are being extracted illegally by Guatemalans. We just heard on the news a few weeks ago that there is a mew company now that is saying they are hiring only Belize, more so women, in a packaging shed somewhere in the Cayo District. What we did not hear was exactly where the xate will come from. We’re afraid that those xate will be extracted from Toledo because most of the xate in the Chiquibul in the Cayo area has been disseminated by the same illegal people coming over. So there are people out there, there are concerns, even when our rangers go out and meet these people, it put risks on their lives. So it’s not only the natural resources, but also the lives of the rangers and people who use this area for hunting. Some people are afraid to go into the Colombia River Forest Reserve and you should not go in there anyway but the xateros are in there as we are speaking.”

Marion Ali

“You’re talking about illegal immigrants from Guatemala.

Bartolo Teul

Bartolo Teul

“Illegal immigrants and even though they say they are going to hire Belizeans. They came to our villages and asked people to go, our people said no; not for five cents a leaf I’m going into that area. So more than likely those who will go in the forest and extract the xate are going to be people coming from across the border. People coming from across the border, they are just going to collect the amount they are contracted to collect per bundle and sometimes they take all the leaves from one plant and that is killing the plant. You should only take one leaf per plant. Another concern that we need to do if we’re really going to make this thing an industry for Belize is start farming it and leave the genetic stocks in the area where they are naturally grown.”

Marion Ali

“Ya’axche has never requested a meeting with a minister of government to express these concerns?”

Bartolo Teul

“We have met with Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar earlier this year where the concern of xate was also brought up where I think he said they were going to suspend xate licenses at that time. I think they suspended it but they went out and give it again.”

Teul says Ya’axche Conservation Trust will continue to pursue another meeting with Minister of Natural Resources, Gaspar Vega to impress upon him their concerns about xate exploitation in Belize, primarily in the south.