Guatemalan settlers should be out by Monday

The process of evacuating illegal Guatemalan settlers from three sites continued today with no major complications. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the evaluation of crops and dwellings in Machaquila was completed this morning and the work in Rio Blanco and Valentin Camp should have finished by sundown today. The settlers in all three areas have been informed by Guatemalan authorities that they must move. That government is being assisted by the International Organisation for Migration, in facilitating the process and determining the compensation packages for each family. By Friday the IOM should complete its assessment and by Monday the funds dispersed and people moved westward. Those who have not departed by Monday evening will be served with immediate expulsion orders by Belizean immigration authorities, presumably with the backup of the BDF.

In related news, the Guatemalan government has agreed to the joint verification process with regard to the newly discovered illegal settlement at Edwards Central. This will take place on Friday, again with technical assistance from the IOM. After the legal notices are served, the farmers should be leaving the area by Wednesday. It is not known if the Guatemalan government will pay compensation to the Edwards Central residents. It has reportedly set aside two hundred and fifty thousand Quetzales (around seventy thousand Belize dollars) to meet the needs of people leaving Machaquila, Rio Blanco and Valentin.