Twenty-seven Plots of Land Cleared for Illegal Farming in Chiquibul

With the election of Ambassador Nestor Mendez as Assistant Secretary-General of the O.A.S., all eyes will be on the dynamics of the relationship between Belize and Guatemala. That relationship is mediated by the O.A.S., and in the past that organization has been accused of extreme reticence where Guatemala is concerned. For example, there is an adjacency zone along the border, which Belize respects, but Guatemalans don’t seem to. There are large farms within Belizean territory, and the OAS hasn’t said much. Today News Five had the opportunity to speak to Rafael Manzanero, the Executive Director of Friends for Conservation and Development. The FCD is the watchdog of the Chiquibul National Park, and he confirmed for us that in a recent reconnaissance flight, they observed twenty-seven plots of land being cleared for planting. 

Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD

“We documented pretty much on that certainly shows t

Rafael Manzanero

hat were there is a presence then people do not really go into do milpas. So in other words in Rio Blanco there doesn’t see many kind of milpa farming as in the other areas where there is no presence of a unit. So it is a problem and I think we have to continuously build up the presence in those zones. There were approximately seventeen new clearing and then there is another six to seven which are being used again. Just cleaning it up and it is a second or third year crop, so that is what we observed along the western border. Which is the Belizean side of the border , it seems that the majority would be within the one kilometre in the Chiquibul forest ,I think there would be two or three beyond the one kilometre.

Manzanero maintains that an enhanced FCD presence is critical, and later in our newscast we’ll show you just what the FCD is doing to beef up its numbers.