A Call for B.D.F. to Increase Presence in Marijuana Growing Areas of Chiquibul

Rafael Manzanero

Illegal milpa farming may be the biggest challenge facing rangers in the Chiquibul, but the most dangerous one is drug cultivation which has been on the rise. Manzanero says that in some areas which are hotspots for marijuana growing, rangers stay away. He continues to call on the Belize Defense Force to have an active presence in those zones.

Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD

“The area of the Cebada zone which is more south from Caracol…there has always been at least over the past four/five years an activity of drug cultivation in the area. We don’t really put much patrols in that zone…in fact that is the area that has been recommended to put a CP over the last three years, because of the dramatic increase of the farms. But now more recently what I think is becoming a trend is the planting of drugs in the middle of cornfields, so there is now a sort of a development occurring there that we certainly would support…in fact we have been advising this over the last three years – of the need to put a force there I that particular zone to be able to address that particular activity. So I think the aspect of drugs yes is one that we are now observing much more in that particular zone.”