Officials bust up illegal xate ring near Belmopan

There has been a major bust in the illegal harvesting of xate leaves in Belize. But most disturbingly, the latest arrest did not take place in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve. Tonight authorities are reporting that the discovery occurred deep inland, in the mountains near St. Margaret’s Village on the Hummingbird Highway. According to spokespersons in Belmopan, on Wednesday three forestry officers were conducting routine surveys in an area north of the Five Blues Lake when they observed thirteen men loading thousands of xate leaves onto a tractor. As soon as the group realised they had been spotted, most took off running, but the officers managed to detain three of the harvesters. The trio were later identified as two Belizeans from St. Margaret’s and one Guatemalan. The harvested greenery was seized and counted, with the final tally being a whopping eighty-four thousand xate leaves. The men were then escorted to the police substation in the village where the cops were waiting to transfer them to the Belmopan Police Station. During court proceedings in the capital city today, two of the men, Guatemalan Juan de Jesus Lopez of San Benito Peten and Belizean Fidel Rivero of St. Margaret’s Village, were convicted and sentenced for the illegal possession of xate leaves. The maximum fine under the law for possession of illegal forest products is only one thousand dollars, but even so, the Belmopan Magistrate only fined the duo eight hundred and fifty dollars. We are told the third man was released without being charged because of his cooperation with authorities during their investigations into the incident. As for the leaves, the Forestry Department has sold them to the highest bidder at a rate of five cents per leaf, which totalled three thousand Belize dollars. However, tonight News Five has confirmed that once the xate leaves are processed in Guatemala, they are worth one U.S. dollar…that would put the value of the bust at more than eighty thousand U.S. dollars. Forestry officials say that even though this is the first capture of xateros near the Hummingbird Highway, they have been aware of the illegal activity in the area for the better part of 2005. Anyone with information on the harvesting of xate is asked to please contact the Forestry Department’s law enforcement officer at 822-1524.