“They Cannot Have The Whole Of The Toledo District”
Dolores Balderamos-Garcia
During our interview with Minister Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, she made it quite clear that the Maya Leaders Alliance cannot claim the entire Toledo District. Balderamos-Garcia says that policy will need to ensure a balance between Maya lands and private lands.
Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Human Development, Families & Indigenous People’s Affairs
“I don’t want to offend anybody, but we the government has to say that the proponents, the MLA grouping who are really the appellants in this matter, it is absolutely clear when you look at the maps and like I say, not everybody will be happy, but government has to say that they cannot have the whole of the Toledo district. So government will have to be the one to limit it. It’s not going to be easy as a senior counsel Marshalleck told us not everybody will be totally happy, but government will have to try to balance the competing interests and make sure that we have private land for people who are not Maya and may not wish to enjoy the communal land rights and land tenure that would be passed when the policy goes in. I don’t want to appear to be too opinionated, but it is not helpful. It’s a little unfortunate when we keep hearing terms like there are incursions into Maya land. I mean, when you talk about incursions into Maya land, the boundaries and the actual extent of the rights have not been fully defined. And the extent of the boundaries of villages have not been fully defined. So it is not helpful when we have to hear talk like there are incursions into Maya territory, because then again we get back to the issue of the claim which for all intents and purposes would be almost the whole of the Toledo district. And I know it is a difficult thing to say, but that cannot happen in modern Belize. We cannot have a division of our country.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Is that a real concern that Cabinet has or you have? It’s a real possibility?”
Dolores Balderamos-Garcia
“Not at all, because we would never allow it. There’s one Belize and I have been at pains to see that from the day I was appointed three years ago, almost to the date today, three years ago when I was appointed the first minister for indigenous peoples affairs, we have made it clear that there can be no division of our country. It is one Belize and we will make sure that whatever legal framework we maintain one country. So it’s not a major concern, but we have to keep making the point.”
