While Maya People May Not Agree with Process, Goal is the Same

Lisel Alamilla

But the Maya Leaders Alliance and the Toledo Alcalde Association have often complained of not being included in the discussion and that government doesn’t show the political will to respect their communal land rights as mandated by the C.C.J. before which they have appeared more than once.  According to Alamilla, while they might not agree with the process, the goal is similar.

Lisel Alamilla, Chair, Toledo Maya Land Rights Commission

“Unfortunately, they have been sending mixed messages; they have argued that a policy is not necessary and I’ve spoken to other people and it is a matter of sequence; of how you want to go about it. The way we are going about it is not necessarily wrong, but they don’t agree that that road is the one to go. They want to start with demarcation of villages. We are saying well before you start going to the villages, we have to agree on certain things. But the last communication from them is that yes we want to participate in the development of this policy. We had invited them, the consultant had met with them twice; it wasn’t very fruitful. And so we decided that we will proceed and when we have something substantial, then we are going to give it to them and then we are going to start with it because I just feel that we are all arguing. We want to get to the same place; it is a matter of how we are going to get there.”