Struggle continues over land rights says the Maya Leaders Alliance
While the topic of oil exploration is dominating the headlines, in southern Belize, the Mayas continue to struggle over their ancestral lands and other rights. Earlier today, the Maya Leaders Alliance issued a statement on an incident that dates back to May ninetieth. According to the MLA, the Forestry Department confiscated two thousand four hundred bay leaves that had been harvested by villagers in Conejo and ordered that an additional four thousand six hundred leaves be left on the ground. The leaves, says the MLA, were to be used for the roof of a house belonging to Ponciano Choc from Cuxlin Ha. Choc had obtained permission from Conejo in line with the Maya customary land tenure system, but nonetheless, the forestry official confiscated the leaves because Choc did not have a government permit. The MLA also says that oil exploration concessions, land grants for hydro dam development and logging in the south endanger their ability to continue with their traditional way of life. Finally, the organization chides the government for refusing to even engage in the most minimal acts of recognition and respect, such as consulting them about activities taking place in their lands.
Belizeans! We must joint the Maya and allow them to run the Toldedo District how they want it’s all for them. Let them harvest they leaves and run Toledo as they see fit because the Maya are not subject to any laws of Belize like the rest of us- they are the chosen people.
SOMETIMES I WONDER OF THE PM WANTS THE MAYA PEOPLE TO START BEGGING ON THE STREET AS IN. THEIR CITY. THEY CLAIM THAT THE MAYA PEOPLE ARE POOR BUT BELIEVE ME YOU THEY DONT GO BEGGIN FOR $1.00 IN THE STREETS. NOW YOU ARE TAKING AWAY THERE WAY OF SHELTERING THEMSELVES. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? WHAT ARE MY PEOPLE DOING THAT THEY DERSERVE SUCH TREATMENT? HOW ABOUT THE LOGGING & THE OIL TO FOREIGNERS ? JUST BECAUSE THEY PAY YOU $$$$ YOU ALLOW THEM TO DESTROY THE JEWEL !WHAT HAVE YOU DONE ? CMON MR PM THEY ARE PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU…THEY CANNOT BE ELIMATED!!! IM PRATING TO GODTHAT HE DOES SOMETHING ABOUT MY HUMBLE PEOPLE….I BELEIVE
mestizo, i agree with u. not only am i a maya but that’s how they live and used to live.. if u go dah dem real backa bush u will see what i mean. if the mennonites can do it then i can’t see why the indigenous ppl cant.. the poor guy when to cut leaves for his house and forestry left it there on the ground.. this sickens me to my stomach!
they are not chosen .. but give them a break.. maybe we can learn to enjoy Belize if we all stand for what is right …Go ahead be sarcastic but thats why we can never work together as Belizean.. thats why we see many come and get rich from our wealth untold..
I think that the prime Minister is so inconsiderate . The Mayans are the real ancestors of the south side of the country of Belize . In fact they were the first to inhabit Belize ,therefore they are the right owners of those land .Lets look at the Mennonites , just a few decades ago they inhabited Belize from Canada and other parts of the world yet they have so many land in Spanish lookout and ship yard . The Menonnites have their own community and we cannot interfere in there daily life or way of being why because Minister Penner is Menonnite. That is stupid ,if there is anyone rightly owning land here in Belize that is the Mayans.
Since the Spanish Conquest, the Maya people have been, raped, pillaged and killed. Their land stolen and the christian belief imposed on them. It is time to FIGHT BACK!!!! No longer should we stand aside and watch while our ancestral land be dictated, shared and exploited by the europan powers!!! Enough is enough!! Long live the RIGHTS/ DERECHOS of indigenous people in mesoamerica!!!!
i Hate to hear these things happening to my people; they are hard working people trying to make a living not begging.The word MAYAS has a lot of meaning and value to this country;why is this government taking away what belongs to them?They don’t need money to survive they plant and reap what they sow because thats the only way to live in the villages.they work work and work but the government wants $$$ from them! Let them enjoy their traditional way of life like everybody else!
RISE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES!!!
Mestizo if Toledo is for di Maya then Belize should be for the creoles. Besides Toledo have Garifuna people and they are just as entitle as the Maya. Maya are not the chosen people no matter what you may say – they are not better than the rest of us Belizeans we are all in this together!