Last three families finally leave Santa Rosa

It has been one of the major roadblocks to improved relations with Guatemala and a long time festering wound to Belize’s sovereign pride … but a release from the Organization of American States indicates that the illegal settlement of Santa Rosa is no more. According to the OAS, the last three Guatemalan families living in Santa Rosa were evacuated on Tuesday to join fourteen other families in a new settlement on the other side of the border near the town of Poptun, Peten. The residents of Santa Rosa had at various times maintained that the settlement was in Guatemala, that they really didn’t know where the border was or that it didn’t matter where the border was. In fact, using both G.P.S. technology and plain old surveying, it was always clear to both governments that Santa Rosa was on Belizean territory, not to mention within the protected confines of the Chiquibul National Park. The OAS facilitated the relocation project, using funds donated by several friendly countries. It is believed that Santa Rosa is the last of the illegal Guatemalan enclaves on Belizean territory. Others previously abandoned by request or the threat of force include Machaquila, Rio Blanco, and Valentin Camp. Guatemalan hunters, bandits and xateros, however, continue to routinely cross the heavily jungled border and operate here with relative impunity.