Barranco Villagers Reject Individual Logging Concessions

Earlier this week, Barranco residents turned out to protest logging concessions. The villagers say they have been excluded from conducting logging in the area and also from any consultation to discuss the matter. A News Five team took the trip south to Barranco Village to look into the issue.

Beatrice Mariano

Beatrice Mariano, Community Activist, Barranco Village

“The villagers who were denied were told by some of the elected officials here that the area they are applying for is what is left and that is why it is being applied for as a village concession, but then other private individuals have gotten the area.”

Marion Ali, Reporting

The residents of Barranco Village, located some seventeen miles from the junction with the Southern Highway, are up in arms that the logging concessions for areas near their community were given to private entities, both from within their village as well as to outsiders, contrary to what was  promised at their last consultation on the matter.

Leslie Colon

Leslie Colon, Barranco resident

“We need to be a part of it so it can help us develop as a people. This community small, we have maybe less than thirty families in this community right now as we speak. Most ah the time we go fishing, we do lee farming, I do logging eena the past – small time – with chainsaw permits. Das oh we survive ya.”

George Coc

George Coc, Assistant Secretary, Barranco Village Council

“And you know what the Chairman said to the people who applied, he said “I reject all concessions – all”. We will do community logging now, but when we get to know the other night, that’s not community.”

Marion Ali

“But you’re part of the Council, Sir.”

George Coc

“Exactly, I didn’t know anything. That’s very wrong. Weh yoh think bout that?”

Beatrice Mariano

“It’s like a repeat of what we protested against in 2018, that – Barranco people had applied for concessions and they were denied. We’ve been told of people from Punta Gorda Town – politically-affiliated people – who also received concessions in the area. No meetings have been held; no consultation any at all.”

The Minister of the Environment, Orlando Habet is out of the country but he has indicated publicly that most of the people who receive logging permits then subcontract the logging to people from outside the community.  But the exclusion of communal logging permits for Barranco is not the only problem the residents of the small fishing village have. They are upset that the access road, which is already in a terrible condition, is now being made even worse by the heavy duty equipment and tractors that the loggers take in to extract the remaining trees. They say the road dilapidation is also taking away other income generating opportunities.

Beatrice Mariano

“When these heavy equipment come in, the damage that is done to the road and when we have the market bus that goes out; we have the school run that goes out that has to take children to T.C.C. in P.G.  and to Corazon and then these children get stuck out there, can’t reach school on time, it damages the vehicles, it makes what used to be a forty-five minute drive now about two hours.”

When the Minister of Infrastructure Development, Julius Espat, was asked on February second about the degradation of the roads, he said there is just not enough money to resurface all the roads in southern Belize, but that efforts are being made to at least improve their condition.

Julius Espat

Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development

“There is nothing we can do in one year or five years or ten years to relieve the south when it pertains to infrastructure. We have just come out of that meeting the Ministry of Finance, to be able to request a substantial increase in the allocation for the road network in the south. They have informed us that they are considering our proposal. I would say we’re ninety percent sure that they will give us what we’re asking for. I’m hoping that it doesn’t decrease. If that happens then what we will be doing is purchasing more equipment for the south.”

If the road condition is addressed, then Barranco can once again be within reach of tourism dollars. And about their issues with the logging permits, the Barranco Village Council is planning a community meeting this Sunday to discuss those concerns.

Marion Ali for News Five.