Cristina Coc speaks about Starstoon Temash national park on O.Y.E
The Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management spoke out against government almost immediately after a decision to allow Seismic testing in the Sarstoon Temash National Park on April twentieth. Not long after, SATIIM received a letter notifying them that their co-management contract for the park had expired. This spurred reaction from the Association of Protected Areas Management Organizations, who quickly sought a meeting with government to discuss the matter. But Mayan activist and Director of the Julian Cho Society, Cristina Coc, who appeared on Channel Five’s Open your eyes breakfast show this morning, said that their villages have always maintained the park and not just under contract.
Cristina Coc, Director, Julian Cho Society
“Co-management agreement or not, the Maya people have lived in that area. The communities of Baranco, Midway, Sunday Wood, Crique Sarco, Conejo have all maintained that area. So for us it’s like the state creates goals, it creates a plan. It has this system of co-management and it violates its own system, which is ironic because you tell communities, listen we’re conserving this area, we’re protecting it. you’re no longer allowed to fish , you’re no longer allowed to hunt you’re no longer allowed to gather medicinal plants; all these things in there. So you put this wall up and then later you say but you know what the company can come in, U.S. Capital can come in and they can do what they want and very little regard for the flora and fauna there. What message are you sending these communities? You’re simply saying it’s out of bounds for you but its easy access for the developer.”
“We have suffered from the strains of colonialism and colonialism really sets in that divide and conquer. It says listen if we can keep them apart then they’re not gonna be a united force, they’re not gonna be a string entity that will force positive social change. They’re gonna be fighting each other, they’re gonna be distracted fighting each other and at the same time we’re gonna lose everything that us as indigenous people care about.”
News Five also spoke to Greg Ch’oc of SATIIM today, who told us that at a meeting with the Prime Minister and his Deputy along with Ministry of Natural Resources officials, a decision was taken to develop an interim agreement for the co-management of the Sarstoon Temash National Park over the next two weeks. Ch’oc says it was also agreed that SATIIM will assist the ministry in monitoring the ongoing seismic testing in the park.
