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He continues to accuse Santa Cruz villagers of being racist against him because he's creole. And so while we were in the south yesterday, we finally got an opportunity to explore Uxbenka for ourselves.

Daniel Ortiz reports:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
This is Rupert Myles House, it sits atop what looks to be an ordinary hill. He and his family have been living on this structure for some months now, ever since he and his common-law wife decided to move back to her home village.

Romaldo Cal - Rupert Myles' Father-in-law
"They have left this place for one year and five months and Rupert Myles came and spoke to me and he says that he wants to stay with my daughter and that is life. They have left this place for one year and five months and nobody claim this place."

So, Myles took it upon himself to take over this hill and settle there with his common-law wife. Little did he know that it would become the catalyst for a huge disagreement with the Maya Villagers who live in Santa Cruz.

They say that he's sitting on top of a mound that is part of the grounds of Uxbenka, and that he needed to leave. The Department of Archaeology has made the very same assessment, and they've issued him with eviction notices and notices of intended prosecution for damage to a natural monument.

As has been reported, he refused to move, they tried to use force to evict him, and he reported them to police, which led to the Santa Cruz 13 having to fight a criminal case.

So then, why is he so convinced that he is in the right, and that he shouldn't have to move?

Well, because Uxbenka has not been formally demarcated by the Archaeology Department, there are no exact boundaries to the natural monument's compound. He claims he found nothing on top of this hill which tells him that it has no archeological worth, plus the distrust between himself and the Mayan villagers, and the misunderstanding deepens.

What Myles believes is that there is a clear difference between his mound, and what is recognized as the epicenter of the Uxbenka temple.

This road, measuring a few hundred yards, separates the 2 hills. He's sure that the ancestral wisdom of the Mayas who've lived there for years, and the assessment of the Department of Archeology is wrong.

Rupert Myles - Challenging The Leaders of Santa Cruz
"They say I live on Uxbenka and then all the radio station says that Myles lives and damage Uxbenka. Now if you watch where Uxbenka is from where I live, you see it's a distance. They are trying to push me out. I don't think that is right, because the constitution of this country says anywhere you choose to live and that is where I choose to live."

The problem is compounded by the assertions from Myles that he was racially discriminated against.

Rupert Myles
"I am the only black man in the village and when I went to the chairman, and that is what he told me. He says if you look around in the village you will see only Indian people and he says that I am a Garifuna and we don't want that mix-up here."

That belief is cemented in Myles mind because according to him, there is another Mayan villager who lives on a hill right across from his hill, yet according to Myles, no one is bothering him.

Rupert Myles
"As you are driving in, you see where the posts when the Uxbenka sign is. You drive in on the left hand side, they demarcate behind the sign like 100 foot behind the sign and went towards the sign. So somebody still lives right up there. You could see a thatch house up there. That man lives there. From my house, you walk down towards the drive way is and walk like you are going to Uxbenka a little bit and then you will see bush covering it. That's why people say that only I lives there."

So, what about this damage that the Department Archaeology says he inflicted to the mound he's living on? Well, he says he didn't do it.

Rupert Myles
"People are accusing me of damaging Uxbenka. You see the drive that is there - its CISCO that did that. If you look at Uxbenka, they (CISCO) fixed the road and made a parking lot. It's there that they leave their machines. So when I came home, they already did that. I didn't ask anyone to do it. If you watch the other places, they always do a little drive way for people. So I didn't do any kind of damages. If you look around the yard, you will see no kind of digging or anything. If you watch my house, I have it on angle iron. The addition I put on is on angle iron. I didn't do any kind of digging."

Since this entire situation caught fire in the press, Myles says that his reputation has taken an unfair hit.

Rupert Myles
"They made me look like I broke up an old Maya ruin and this and that. People stop call me Rupert Myles and start to call be "Benka." The guys at work call me Mr. Maya."