Santa Rosa is vacant; B.D.F. says it will remain so
The O.A.S. has already declared the area vacant and our government has supplied photos to prove it. Today the B.D.F., assisted by a British helicopter, took the media to see with its own eyes what was once the settlement called Santa Rosa. Despite its tiny size, the community of Guatemalans on the Belize side of the border was a major impediment to improved relations between the two countries. For news Five’s Janelle Chanona, the area had changed radically from when she first hiked there six years ago.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
After twenty years of existence, the illegal settlement known as Santa Rosa is no more.
The tiny community was located just inside the Belizean border in the south-eastern foothills of the Maya Mountains and was the source of significant controversy because during the height of negotiations to end the Guatemalan claim to Belize, the Guatemalans proposed to swap the land in the Toledo District where the village sat for a similar size parcel in Cayo.
Approximately sixty-five people called Santa Rosa home in late 1988 when the community was first established. When we visited the settlement in July 2002 we found sixteen Guatemalan families living as subsistence farmers, tending livestock for beef and milk and logging timber from the surrounding forest for building materials. But most disturbingly, the residents were living a totally Guatemalan lifestyle, complete with a Guatemalan school teacher and Guatemalan ideas about Belize’s sovereignty.
Luis Antonio Ebenez Palas, Teacher, Santa Rosa (July 2002)
“Because this has always been Guatemala and at the moment there is no border in this place. I think we are in Guatemala but there is a negotiation in process over this territory and I hope there will be a solution, so we can find out whether we are in Guatemala or Belize.”
Janelle Chanona
“What we didn’t find on that first trip to Santa Rosa was this a road constructed from the Guatemalan settlement of El Limon into Belizean territory. It was a development that accelerated diplomatic efforts.”
So after years of talking about what to do about Santa Rosa, both Belize and Guatemala agreed that as part of Confidence Building Measures, the villagers would be relocated to Esmeralda, Peten, a community established by the Organization of American States with funding from countries supporting the resolution of the Guatemalan claim to Belize.
Between January fourth and April fifteenth of 2008, the O.A.S. supervised the phased relocation of Santa Rosa. Villagers took their items of value and even portions of their homes. What wasn’t carried out was either abandoned … or burnt. This was once the school building.
Carlos Perdomo, Minister of National Security
“That is a very strong show that we can use diplomacy and our cool heads to get something that was as thorny as this solved. So it’s a wonderful feeling to sit. It takes a little longer but with cool heads, there weren’t any military clashes, any swords drawn, and that is quite significant.”
Janelle Chanona
“The people of Santa Rosa may have gone but the sense of isolation about this place is still very much here. So to remind anyone who might forget that this is Belizean territory, the Belize Defence Force has established a permanent military outpost.”
Sgt. Derrick McFadzean, Commander, Santa Rosa Outpost
“It takes us about an hour to move from our O.P. post all the way up to Espirino and also it takes us about the same time to move all the way back down to San Vicente. So roughly we do about five hours patrol for the day.”
Sergeant Derrick McFadzean is the officer in charge of the Santa Rosa outpost.
Sgt. Derrick McFadzean
“Previously when we were here before, we already used to coming in the village and meet a couple of the Guatemalans, talk along with them and you just have a different feeling than being out here all alone.”
Janelle Chanona
“How you deal with that?”
Sgt. Derrick McFadzean
“Well it’s eight of us so we just do our daily chores and talk to each other just to not feel boring being out here.”
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett, C.E.O., Ministry of National Security
“I think Belizeans must get a sense of pride now. As far as they were concerned, this was thorn in their side that we had Guatemalans living in Belize and in particular in a forest reserve—this is part of the Colombia Forest Reserve—while other Belizeans are not able to do so.”
But the military leaders admit that even if the Guatemalan claim to Belizean lands were settled tomorrow, the pressure on our resources would continue. Illegal incursions across our porous border to hunt, extract timber and harvest xate are daily occurrences. According to Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of National Security, Brigadier General Lloyd Gillett, part of the Belizean response has been the establishment of military outposts and border patrols.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett
“It’s coordinated patrols with the Guatemalans so that cases like this are helpful. People know that there’s a border here and they are not supposed to come over this side. It’s a continuing battle. We have the same challenges along the Mexican border with people contrabanding fuel, cooking oil, beer, soft drinks. So it’s a continuous challenge that we always have to be cognizant of and we always try to deter, as much as possible, these activities.”
While Santa Rosa was the oldest illegal settlement in Belize, other communities previously abandoned by request or by the threat of force include Machaquila, Rio Blanco, and Valentin Camp. Reporting for News Five from the Toledo District, I am Janelle Chanona.
