Wil Maheia Fears that Land Dispute Will Further Escalate

Today, Wil Maheia of the Belize Progressive Party issued a release on the boundary demarcation for Laguna and Yemeri Grove villages in southern Belize. In his release, he implores G.O.B. to act with urgency and due diligence to resolve the boundary dispute. Maheia says that the former administration “failed to demarcate the boundary lines between these two villages.” Tensions are escalating and Maheia fears that someone will get injured if it is not resolved sooner rather than later.

Wil Maheia

Wil Maheia, Belize Progressive Party

“We at the Belize Progressive Party believe that government has dropped the ball in dealing with this issue. We know that they inherited this issue from the U.D.P. administration who refused to do anything at that time. So we would expect that this government would make this a priority since tensions are so high in these villages. I mean this is only two villages, but there are other villages where tensions are also high. So we are calling on the government of Belize to immediately address this issue. We are a small country and we are a peaceful country with many cultures. We brag about the different ethnic groups living in harmony with each other and because of neglect, in our opinion, the government has refused to address the issue and it is getting to the point where someone may die. We don’t want that to happen. On Sunday, machetes were out there. We didn’t see it, but we heard that people had arms out there and it continues to escalate. This is not the first time these two villages went at it. We call on both villages to try and show some constraint and respect for each other. Those are absolutely not the only two villages. You have the explosive situation between Midway and Barranco – two different ethnic groups again. And then you have the situation between San Jose and San Antonio and a lot of different villages. As villages grow, the demand for land grows and these things need to be addressed.”