World Archaeological Congress Writes P.M. Barrow

Cristina Coc

The World Archaeological Congress, a consortium of renowned archaeologists representing eighty countries and territories, has written to Prime Minister Dean Barrow.  The Congress is especially concerned with issues of human rights as they relate to cultural heritage.  This is in light of government’s handling of the Santa Cruz/Uxbenka fiasco.  According to a release issued by the WAC, it considers the treatment of Maya citizens of Belize, particularly concerning their rights to their traditional lands and land use practices to be of singular importance for the future of archaeology and its relationship with indigenous peoples.  Earlier today, we spoke with Cristina Coc of the Maya Leaders Alliance.

On the Phone: Cristina Coc, Spokesperson, MLA

“It is about our heritage and so I was very pleased actually to learn about this letter and to be copied on the letter to see that the World Archeological Congress, which includes archeologists and experts from around the world, who stand with the Maya people in defense of these heritages. And they basically highlighted the fact that it seems to be a consistent trend from the Government of Belize to not protect and not address the various violations of destruction of Mayan Sacred Sites, including Noh Mul and including the looting that continues to happen in the Chiquibul area. They were very adamant in saying that and they felt that while the communities were basically given the full brunt of force from law enforcers, what they saw as quite disheartening is that not a single charge has been brought against the perpetrator. To date, not a single charge has been brought against Mister Myles for the destruction of Uxbenka temple. And the government has been very silent on the issue. And so we were very happy to see that the world is watching and people in that area of expertise are watching and they are paying attention to the lack of attention being given to the destruction of our Mayan heritage.”