And while Toledo fisherfolk are worried about Jamaican boats plundering
their fish stock – that is not so great a threat to Belizean sovereignty
and resource husbandry as is the silent invasion that’s happening everyday
in western Belize. As we’ve been showing you for the past tow nights,
the Chiquibul Forest – a vast and mostly un-monitored area is under sustained
pressure from Guatemalan hunters, xateros, loggers and farmers.
On Saturday, our 7News team went where no media had gone before to
the western edge of the Chiquibul where it meets the Guatemala border –
and we did it on foot. The purpose was to see the Chiquibul at ground level
below the luxuriant forest cover – where the reality of this empty, depleted
forest is laid painfully bare. But the mission was to visit a Guatemalan farm
at the edge of Belizean territory and if possible arrest the farmers. As we’ve
shown you Chiquibul is dangerous place – and this was the most dangerous
part of the mission. Jules Vasquez picks up the story.
Lt. Justo Velez, Commanding Officer
“So we come down this track which will actually lead us to the farm.”
That square is the mission point, a Guatemalan farm in Belizean territory.
Speaking in a barely audible whisper Lt. Velez outlined the plan to his soldiers
for what’s known as a close target reconnaissance meaning these soldiers
and the police officer will go ahead and scope out the area at close range to
see if anyone is there and if they are armed.
The seven soldiers who stayed with us wait for word back from the reconnaissance
group and finally we get the signal we can proceed the 50 meters to the site,
a cleared area – no hostiles have been detected. What we find is literally 
a disgrace, a slice at the western edge of a Belizean protected area, the Caracol
Archaeological Reserve burnt down and cleared slashed and burnt for Guatemalan
milperos.
Rafael Manzanero, Friends for Conservation and Development
“What we’re seeing in terms of landscape here is within the
Caracal Archaeological Reserve. Of course as a result then we can imagine that
it would be a nice virgin forest with standing trees but what you can see here
is certainly, they have already removed the forest cover, the trees have already
been burnt and then they have already planted.
Our rules, our regulations, our laws are stating that any of this thing
is really illegal to do. So then the question of Guatemalans shouldn’t
being able to do it then certainly it prompts another series of questions of
course.”
They grow all the milpa staples here pumpkin – these ones have been dried
for pepitos while this one is still on the root. There’s also beans. But
it’s Corn that dominates the field; it is everywhere – the cornstalks
have been left to dry – dried corn is like currency in Peten Guatemala
and this field is full of it. And there are also these sacks covered by a tarp
ready to go to market. This corn will be used to make tortillas or as animal
feed. And it is only dry corns, new shoots of corn have also been planted – 
those are everywhere too – and in an act of futile desperation the group
from the FCD uproots some of the shoot.
Rafael Manzanero,
“So how much would it require to come in and destroy all of this,
well it requires multiple days to be here on the spot and ensuring there is
safety for the people who are doing it as well.”
Dr. Colin Young,
“This is a classic case where I think the instinct is certainly not
the most practical and that is obviously to come in here and destroy all of
them. But because of the sensitive nature of where this place is, so close to
the border, within the adjacency zone, I think it requires the sort of multi-sectoral
approach, sort of a task force. We kind of have them but the process, the wheels
turn quite slowly and in the process we are losing the forest on this side of
the border incredibly fast.”
Indeed, the area is immense – we are dwarfed by the size of it.
Rafael Manzanero,
“What I see there as well you saw is that the cornfield is measured
800 meters by 300 metres extending southward by the grid along the map. And
presently the corn is not being extracted, yet they are already replanting the 
whole farm and in the farm as normal as what we always find, they have pumpkin,
beans, and the corn that they just planted.”
Dr. Colin Young,
“You look at this place, this is a couple hectares of land cleared,
active, fresh plants, incredibly frustrating Jules.”
And more so on this day because we had to leave it all behind – mostly
intact – all we had to take was Beningo Garcia the hapless hunter caught
with a pair of gibnut, a rifle and machete and live rounds. The truth is while
he was caught red handed – he’s just another poor Guatemalan looking
to the green resource rich lands of Belize for a means of survival. The symptom
may be poaching but the problem is poverty:
Dr. Colin Young,
“When we look at the reality on the ground in like Guatemala, we have
a population that is incredibly poor and as long as that remains the case, the
pull for them to come into this side will be great and any solution will have
to involve a kind of relationship with the Guatemalans on that so that they
could create the kind of alternative livelihood opportunities for them on that
side so as to not create the kind of push factor that brings them into Belize.
If we don’t deal with the poverty there and the fact that they don’t
have the green land then these looks like a garden of Eden to them.”
A garden of Eden or a paradise at risk of being lost to these silent invaders
I’ll draw some conclusions about the future of this park in peril.
So, join us tomorrow night for the conclusion of our Chiquibul series.
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