Laguna Village Residents Fear for Future of Communal Land
Laguna and Yemeri Grove villages are at odds over land. Of recent, tension in the Toledo District has been rising between the neighboring communities. Laguna, a Mayan community, undertook an exercise to survey and demarcate lands that residents say belong to the village. But, residents of Yemeri Grove, a non-Mayan community, are saying that Laguna residents are now encroaching on their village lands. We have been following the story for some time and today News Five’s Paul Lopez travelled to Laguna Village where community leaders called a press conference. Here is what he found out.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Laguna Village, a Maya community in Toledo District, was established in the mid 1940’s by a handful of families. Today, the population has grown to over four hundred residents and they are embroiled in a land dispute with the neighboring village of Yemeri Grove. The villagers of this indigenous community gathered this morning to hold a press briefing with journalists to voice their concerns.
Bacilio Cob, Elder, Laguna Village
Bacilio Cob
“Laguna is a peaceful village and quiet old village that is a hard working community. It is a productive community that does farming, hunting, just to name a few activities. Laguna Village along with leaders, chairman and the alcaldes, throughout the years has allowed its residents a fair use of the land. The farming activities have allowed for a close relationship with the people to the land. In Laguna, if a resident desires to own a piece of land, that individual must lodge a request with the alcalde and the village council. The community leaders would call a village meeting periodically to process land applications together. The size and boundaries of the lands distributed to potential land owners are determined during these meetings. Tree limbs or concrete stumps are used to mark the boundaries of each parcel of land. For decades, this has been the established practice for land distribution in this Maya community.”
Cayetano Ico
Cayetano Ico, Elder, Laguna Village
“To tell you the truth this village was a calm people, we had no bar, nobody drink rum to make fuss and fight and kick up. We have the alcalde system. If you give trouble they have a little cell to lock you up or tie you up to behave. That was the rule, the law governed by the alcalde and the village council. Those are our traditional way. Well I am so sorry, as I have mentioned, this village began to expand, began to populate. Look at the amount of students already. Where are they going? So we keep our boundaries intact. We clean our lines, we know our boundaries and edges, so we keep it there.”
There is presently conflict over what Lugana identifies as its village boundary lines. According to the leaders of the village, residents have long held the view that their traditional borders begin at the Laguna Junction, along the Southern Highway. Villager leaders have moved ahead to survey and demarcate lands that extend from the center of the village, to the highway, for future village expansion. They intend to distribute these lands to their children using their traditional land distribution system.
Rosa Shol, Elder, Laguna Village
Rosa Shol
“We don’t want our youths to be evicted from our lands and try to run to the U.S as illegal immigrants. We don’t want them to become homeless and idle. WE have always been hard working, productive people on our land. We don’t line up in front of the minister office or house to beg for food.”
But, the chairman of neighboring Yemeri Grove, Harold Usher, says Laguna Village does not have a right to those lands.
Harold Usher
Harold Usher, Chairman, Yemeri Grove Village
“As far as I can tell you, for my entire life, there has been no Mayas living around these areas. I have Mayas who grew up and went to school with me and they are my personal friends. So, I have nothing personal against Maya people. What I am saying is I would like for the MLA to respect other villages that are not Maya villages and we will do the same. I have nothing personal. All I am saying is that Belize is for Belizeans.”
Tempers are boiling over, as Sebastian Itch, the chairman of Laguna, claims that his villagers have faced what he says are human rights violations and criminal threats from Yemeri Grove residents. According to Itch, a Maya farmer whom they believed went missing was actually arrested and held inside a cell in Punta Gorda for allegedly illegally entering farm lands that was given to him by the community. Itch further asserts that neighboring villagers have vandalized Laguna property and threatened leaders.
Sebastian Itch, Chairman, Laguna
Sebastian Itch
“Despite all this, today is the first time we are speaking out personally about what we have endured. No one in Laguna has confronted or exchanged words with these persons or Yemeri Grove village council. But we have carefully documented every incident that has been done against us. On this matter, we met once with the leadership of the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs and we agreed that a proper process must be in place for this matter to be resolved. As a village we developed a proposed process and we have shared this with them, but to date the government has not gotten back to us. For us in Laguna, this is a big part of the problem. The Government of Belize refuse to work with us in putting a proper process in place.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez
