In Studio report on happenings in Orange Walk

Marleni Cuellar
“Alright, we’re being joined here in the studios by Kendra Griffith, who is freshly back from Orange Walk where you were in the middle of the action at the Tower Hill Bridge. Kendra, bring us up to speed. We saw Prime Minister Dean give his press conference, we saw the interview with Carlos Magana, C.E.O. of the Cane Farmers Association, saying that that posed the question of whether or not he would be able to hold back the crowd. At that point he said that in two hours he would be able to do that and he wasn’t sure what was going to happen after. We saw them, for lack of a better word, attacking the deputy prime minister’s vehicle and also we saw the scene on the bridge itself where they were throwing rocks and pints and you had a chat with Hubert Elrington along the same lines. Now, what has happened after that? What were you there to see?”

Kendra Griffith
“Okay, so when Mr. Elrington and Mr. Peyrefitte, who are lawyers for the Cane Farmers Association, they came on the scene and they were trying to explain to the cane farmers that they are not there acting on behalf of government and they were there for the Cane Farmers themselves you know. And I guess temperatures were already running high and people were a bit riled up and they had quite a bit of time trying to explain that to them. But the whole thing actually came to a head—Mr. Magana, he wasn’t there at the time when they came out but he came out later so that the lawyers could have a bit of a chat with each other to see how they want to proceed with the situation. And at that time we had the prime minister’s timeline; he had given them a timeline that at four o’clock they wanted the trucks to be moved. So the whole thing took a turn for the worst when Mr. Magana went to address the cane farmers on the PA system. Then someone else came on the PA system and spoke of an incident that had happened at the factory. Our understanding is that a cane truck with several farmers in it went to the factory and the police, in trying to stop them from getting into the place, a chase ensued we were told and then ruction started. And so when the people heard that something happened at the BSI with farmers, police were involved, some people were hurt and everybody just scattered; literally just jumped into whatever vehicles they could get into to go to the scene to the BSI factory. And we followed along and we’ll pick up the footage there if George can just roll it.

We started walking up to where they were there and then someone was kind enough to offer us a ride. And this is what we saw when we got to the factory. Now when we got there, the first tear gas was already thrown because I guess the police were trying to quell the crowd.”

Marleni Cuellar
“So there was some validity to the incident that they spoke about on the PA system?”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes, and so these are the cane farmers, and a barricade that is set up in front of the factory; to go into the factory.”

Marleni Cuellar
“And they just pummeled through it.”

Kendra Griffith
“Exactly, they just pummeled through it and our thought then was that they were going after the core sampler and they were going to go and pull that down because that was what they were saying all day; that they don’t want that core sampler there anymore. And, as you see, police officers are already up there because by this time the crowd was already getting larger. People were already—having heard word of that incident up there spread—and people just started making their way over to BSI and so in no time that crowd started to swell.”

Marleni Cuellar
“Now, in terms of a time frame, around what time was this?”

Kendra Griffith
“Now, I would say this would be around three-thirty because when we were speaking to the lawyers and they were saying well, we need to go into this meeting and we were saying well, you know four o’clock is fast approaching, when will you all say what is going to happen. And so it was like five minutes afterwards, then we heard of this incident and, as you see the police officers, there were already police officers at the bottom o the hill. When we got there we were able to drive straight up because there were no police officers there. We heard that there was tear gas but apparently tear gas was being thrown all the way from up there but the wind brought it down, that’s why much more people were being affected. This again is tear gas that is being thrown to stop those persons who were on—I believe it’s a cane grabber.”

Marleni Cuellar
“That went through the barricade that was put there.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes, yeah.”

Marleni Cuellar
“Okay, did they get any further than that? I mean is this…”

Kendra Griffith
“No, they didn’t get further because the police officers were there and, as you can see, they were firing at the crowd to keep them back. They’re firing the tear gas at the crowd in hopes that it would just keep them back.”

Marleni Cuellar
“It’s tear gas that they’re firing at the crowd.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes.”

Marleni Cuellar
“And I see rocks going in the opposite direction as well.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes, they’re firing tear gas and apparently they shot real bullets and rubber bullets.”

Marleni Cuellar
“This actually brings us to one of the things that makes this day one of the worst protests that we’ve seen. A protest was at Tower Hill Bridge in 2001 but today there was actually a casualty because of this protest, one Antonio Felix Gutierrez. What do you know of that situation?”

Kendra Griffith
“Well, the C.E.O. of the Cane Farmers Association was still refusing to release that name to us. We know that he died—the details surrounding how he died are still a bit sketchy. We asked several people if they were there at the time of the incident. We’re not certain if he was one of the men in that initial truck, we are presuming. So in that initial truck which went to the factory when the crowd of people were there and had to be subdued.”

Marleni Cuellar
“When there was the car chase and everything going on.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes, exactly. I know that they detained several persons there. Mr. Magana confirmed to me that in addition to that person who died, there were two persons injured. We were getting conflicting reports; you five, you hear six, four persons and when I called him just before we got here he said one dead and two persons injured.”

Marleni Cuellar
“And those are from gunshot wounds?”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes, they’re from gunshot wounds. And even while we were there you see people running down the hill, they have blood on their clothes. There was this guy, we have him; he’ll come up later, in which he was grazed to the shoulder with a bullet. He was in a truck—I think we have footage of the truck that actually came up while those persons were trying to break through that barricade—a truck came and that was shot at also. And so we have, see there we have the truck and the man driving that was grazed to the shoulder. ”

Marleni Cuellar
“And their intention was just to go up to the BSI compound presumably, maybe to go after the core sampler, like they have been saying all day.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes and there were—well, I don’t know if that’s what the chains were there for—but later on when we went to see the truck we saw they had these big chains and later on we’ll have a shot of that truck with bullet holes in it and at various points surrounding the truck. At that time and either that or it could probably be because there were some persons detained in the factory; some of the initial ones who went in that first truck. So the police, the law enforcement officers, did manage to detain some of them and so it probably could have been also to try and get those persons out because this evening they were demanding that those persons be released.”

Marleni Cuellar
“Okay, we’ve gotten that at the press conference with the prime minister, he said he would meet with them tomorrow, there was a press release this evening that said they were suspending the use of the core sampler. What happened at that time? Why didn’t that just quell the crowd and everybody go home? What was the feeling like at that time?”

Kendra Griffith
“Well, at various points I felt really sorry for Mr. Magana because he was between a rock and a hard place trying to negotiate and at the same time trying to quell the cane farmers. And when he came out and he gave them that message—I think we have that also. This here is when they were setting fires on the going up the hill and they came prepared. They had those tires off in the bushes and when they felt like they needed to, they just rolled those out and put them in the middle of the road and I guess to stop the visibility of the police officers who were all the way up the hill because we didn’t see any officers at the base. After a while, they had all retreated up the hill. So Mr. Magana came out and he gave the crowd the news and they did not take very kindly to it. They were saying that they want the core sampler remove; they just don’t want it to be suspended and he is explaining to them if we can just bring it up. So here he is, he has just come out of the factory and he’s explaining to them in Spanish first that this has been suspended and this is a good thing; this is what we wanted. We are trying to negotiate but they weren’t really buying it. And then they started asking about the person that had died and the persons that were being detained and the persons that were injured and saying what about the persons who committed this crime. And so the crowd was really riled up and were really hard to subdue.”

Marleni Cuellar
“At one point in time they even knowing that the use of the core sampler was suspended, they then move on to having the persons released who were already detained.”

Kendra Griffith
“Exactly, so it was just another demand that they put onto it. So they wanted that situation dealt with and the law enforcement officers, I think who were responsible for shooting them.”

Carlos Magana, C.E.O., Cane Farmers Association
“The prime minister has declared that the core sampler will not be used. He has declared it; he has spoken with me and he said that. And that is what I want to mention to them, but I know that they are very heated up. I understand that.”

Patrick Jones, Love FM
“They are asking for the release of the men that were in there. What happened to them?”

Carlos Magana
“They will be released ok? They will be released. The officer is saying that they will be released once we have the people very calm, they’re going to be released.”

Patrick Jones
“So then you’re asking the people to move away from here?”

Carlos Magana
“Yes.”

Kendra Griffith
“Mr. Magana, Mr. Magana, are the negotiations supposed to be going on while the core sampler is suspended?”

Carlos Magana
“Well I wouldn’t be able to say at this point. I wouldn’t be able to say at this point.”

Kendra Griffith
“Now also while Mr. Magana was explaining to the crowd you hear there people hollering “Liar, liar” saying that how he’s telling lies and almost seeming to be saying as if though that he was working with the government and he was giving in or something like that when that was the case and he had a really hard time trying to explain to them that no, no, this is what we want. We want to negotiate and it just seemed that they weren’t having any of it. The way that he was able to quell them a bit was saying that he was going to speak to the Commissioner of Police and see if he could get the men released immediately because that was what the men were asking for in the end and it seemed as if though that quieted them down a bit and it so he was able to move off from that. I think we also have the shots, one of the things they did. Yes, you see them burning a shirt. They’ve also set several of BSI’s cane fields on fire. The one right in front of the factory, they…”

Marleni Cuellar
“That’s a shirt for Gaspar Vega.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes because as you can see they weren’t very happy with him either when he came out of that meeting because basically they were at the same point where they were before he went in.”

Marleni Cuellar
“They wanted immediate solution.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes.”

Marleni Cuellar
“Kendra, one of the questions I had for you had to do with more of the feeling earlier in the day. Did you get a sense, I mean you mentioned were to the side of the road. So there was some element of a planned protest, noh, besides parking the trucks there. Did you get a sense that they expected it to escalate to this point?”

Kendra Griffith
“Definitely. All the while when we were there, even when things were quiet at the Toll Bridge you see people picking up rocks, you know, hording rocks. They are picking up sticks, anything that they can use for weapons, you see them tearing up bits of cloth and you’re figuring the only thing weh coulda di do that for, and you hear mention of gasoline and kerosene and diesel and things like that and so you know that they did not expect much to happen today and they were prepared for this eventuality. They knew that it would come down to this because it seemed as if though at that time both sides weren’t going to budge. They were firm in their demands, they don’t want that core sampler there anymore and the government and BSI were firm in that it was going to remain and it didn’t take much to get them riled up, you know. You talk too much or you say the wrong thing or anything like that and the people they just go off. As you can see, even Mr. Magana had a hard time calming them down and talking to them and try to let them see things rationally.”

Marleni Cuellar
“And within your conversations with the individual cane farmers around there, were they all out there for the same cause or were people out there saying that I didn’t expect to get this far?”

Kendra Griffith
“No, everyone that was out there was out there to support the cane farmers. Even those who weren’t necessarily being negatively affected by the core sampler they’re saying “You know what, we have to stick together. You had family members of cane farmers out there and they were out there for that same reason, you know, to support the cane farmers and to bolster their efforts. So that was the entire air…the air that was there the entire day was just one of anticipation, you know, like a ticking bomb. You know that something will happen, it was just when it was going to happen. As you can see there is a gentleman who was injured. He doesn’t seem to have suffered that great of an injury. This is the truck that was fired on way up at the front when it in front of the barricade. You can see that’s blood there and the chains and sticks that the men were going into the factory with.”

Marleni Cuellar
“So they had a goal set out obviously of, I mean I wouldn’t say that maybe they expected it to escalate to this point but they seemed to be prepared.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes, for any eventuality if it didn’t turn out the way that they had wanted it to then you knew from the get-go that things would get nasty and it would have been hard for anyone to try and control that crowd. And then when they had…”

Marleni Cuellar
“Can I get a number?”

Kendra Griffith
“Well, there were actually, we…we are only seeing the persons from two segments, that the Toll Bridge and Tower Hill but they were actually blocking off the three portions to three entrances into the Corozal Town and Mr. Magana was saying that how there were upwards of I think two thousand cane farmers up there. Ok so this is the riot squad that we have here. This is the bridge again. They were called in when the crowd started to get a bit boisterous, noh. And this is by the Toll Bridge and this is right by the Guinea Grass Road. Apparently there was a group of persons as you can see, there is a group of persons down that side going into that village that were causing a bit of ruckus and several times the law enforcement forces had to fire tear gas in that direction and that was around the same time…that was like around five o’clock, after five, thereabouts. And the crowd kept expanding and then shrinking in that area for some strange reason. We’re not sure what kept bringing them over to that side because when we were looking to come out there was practically no one there.”

Marleni Cuellar
“Is that a trashed police vehicle?”

Kendra Griffith
“Yeah. I think it was. I’m not sure. We had reports that a police vehicle was damaged and a vehicle from the Ministry of Works, we’re hearing that that vehicle was burnt. Because then there were reports that vehicles from the Ministry of Works were coming to forcibly remove the cane trucks and so I guess when people heard that they tried to hedge them off by destroying one of their trucks.”

Marleni Cuellar
“And about how many people did you see get detained at the end of it?”

Kendra Griffith
“The police weren’t necessarily amongst the crowd, so we’re not sure how many persons. We don’t hear of persons being detained aside from the ones are at the factory. They were keeping their distance for the most part. I know that there was some sort of confrontation between them because at one point this guy showed us a police baton that he had taken away from an officer and so you knew that there were…”

Marleni Cuellar
“…some confrontation happening.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes but the police were keeping their distance a bit and they were just firing into the crowd trying to dispel them. And the tear gas would be fired and the crowd would thin out a bit but for some reason, after a while, like fifteen, twenty minutes later the numbers would just swell up back again for some strange reason.”

Marleni Cuellar
“Throughout the day itself did you see any presence from any persons from BSI, Mr. Montalvo, anybody came out?”

Kendra Griffith
“No, no we didn’t see anyone there from BSI. It appeared that at this point…k here we have them moving out the vehicles. At this point BSI weren’t really in the negotiations. They say they had already spoken to BSI and now they would now just only talk to the PM or the Deputy PM. When the Deputy PM came out of that meeting at the Association [office] we were told that he was to go to BSI to meet with Mr. Carballo but I’m not sure what came of that meeting because we didn’t hear anything about it after that.”

Marleni Cuellar
“Alright Kendra, and what was the scene like? I know that you guys went through quite a feat to even get back here in studio in true fashion of Channel Five – by all means get back here for the story. What was the scene like when you left? You left after six, almost six-thirty.”

Kendra Griffith
“When we left the riot squad was still on the bridge. They seemed as if though they were advancing a bit. They weren’t allowing anyone…as you can see Mr. Jeffries is there and he’s telling everybody to turn around. They’re not allowing anyone past the riot squad and they kept pushing the crowd back a bit and as we were leaving actually in that vehicle to go catch a boat, more tear gas was being fired. When I last spoke to someone up there they were saying that the situation had subdued a bit but according to Mr. Magana, while it has calmed down the strike is by no means over, that as far as they’re concerned, the strike is still on and it will continue until at lease tomorrow morning when they hold a general meeting with the cane farmers. That meeting is tomorrow at ten in Orange Walk. We’re still not sure of the venue as yet but as far as I know the squad is still there prepared for anything because the amount of people that are still there, anything can happen and things can get nasty still.”

Marleni Cuellar
“What is planned for this meeting?”

Kendra Griffith
“It’s to discuss with the cane farmers I guess, it’s to get them away from that sort of environment and to just talk to them after tempers had cooled a little bit and see what they’re saying then because you also have these other things that they were demanding – the removal of Mr. Acosta as Chair of the Sugar Cane Control Authority, something like that and several other demands. I think it was nine demands that they had and so the core sampler is only one…”

Marleni Cuellar
“One of the issues. Well that should be key to note because I felt almost and I think the perspective from those of us who were paying attention was once the press release came out and said that ok we’ve suspended the use of the core sampler that things could have gotten a lot calmer but it obviously didn’t. So there’s more on the agenda that they’re seeking. Alright. I guess we can only hope that people will be able to try to get cool heads at this point in time and not resort to violence and not be able to maintain this kind of an environment there and hopefully negotiations can take place and some kind of compromise can be met.”

Kendra Griffith
“Yes, we hope so, that nothing erupts tonight and that by now calmer heads have prevailed. They’ve gotten a major portion of what they wanted, which is the core sampler out of the way and so it’s just, I guess to hammer out the details as to what happens after this season is finished -what will happen to that core sampler.”

Marleni Cuellar
“I think there needs to be some kind of voice of reason in terms of, and I go back to the idea of compromise, some kind of voice to say ok, we’ve got to figure out a way out of this. It will happen. We have hope. But thanks very much Kendra. We’re glad that you’re back safely from Orange Walk. I’m sure being in that environment was no day at the park.”

Kendra Griffith
“No, tear gas not fun.”

Marleni Cuellar
“Tear gas, rocks or pints are not fun, or bullets at this point in time. Well thank you very much.”