F-PIC Protocol Filed with C.C.J., Despite Objections

The F-PIC protocol, which has now been renamed by the Briceño administration as the free prior, inform consultation process, has been filed with the Caribbean Court of Justice, despite objections by some Maya leaders. All parties return before the C.C.J. on May fifth. Today, Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, under whose ministry the matter is being handled, gave an update.

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

“What we are doing right now we are socializing it, we are promoting it more. There are a few little complaints here and there that maybe we haven’t talked to every Alcalde, but the court itself has told us, let not the perfect be the enemy of the good. We believe that we have taken a good step in the right direction. There are those who will complain, but I say to them work with us. I’ve always held out that hand to the MLA people, to the Toledo Alcaldes Association people – we have never ever disrespected them. We have a different view of the Maya traditional governance system, so we may have a few little intellectual differences, but I really believe that we can work together. And with the F-PIC protocol, since it has been filed, we are going village to village; we are letting the Maya people know about it. I think Belize, we are ahead of the game. We may not be perfect; there are some complaints about the contents of the protocol itself, but I believe that we have heard that even those people who have certain little difficulties with it, they believe that it is eighty to eighty-five percent good.”