P.M. Barrow Says Force Cannot be Used to Evict Rupert Myles

While the Mayans of Santa Cruz await their day in Court following another adjournment, one man who hasn’t been before a magistrate is Rupert Myles. That’s because the man who is said to have deliberately destroyed the sacred Mayan site, Uxbenka, has not been charged. Following the incident on June twentieth, Director of Archaeology John Morris criticized the actions by Myles for knowingly effacing part of the mound to build a driveway to his property which sits atop the ruin. Morris said that charges would be brought against Myles but that hasn’t happened, and the official stance of government seems focused more on the Mayans than on Myles. 

FILE: July 24, 2015

John Morris, Director of Archaeology

John Morris

“Just like the case with the Noh Mul…the destruction of the mound…it is in court right now. Mister Denny Grijalva has had to attend several court sessions. The same way, we have all intentions. We will give him a letter of eviction from the area and then we are finishing up our assessment of the damage that he has done to the platform of the ancient Maya building and when we are finished with that we are going to serve him with court papers for the destruction of a monument based on the laws of Belize.”

Dean Barrow

Dean Barrow, Prime Minister

“I don’t know what the Director of Archaeology said so I’m not going to comment, I’m not going to contradict him. I am telling you that the position is that the law of this country is what it is. It still prevails. The Mayans like all other citizens of Belize are bound by those laws and you cannot use force to evict somebody from land that is in dispute, and I will leave it there.”