For a few months now that the Belize/Guatemala territorial dispute hasn't been in the news. But, since the beginning of this year, it's been quietly playing out in realtime at the Western Border, on the very edge of Benque Viejo Town.
The location in dispute is known as the Barrio El Juda area. That's where the Belizean, Jorge Emiliano Espat, owns approximately 100 to 150 acres of land in different parcels. The problem is that his land is right next to the Western border in the area known as the adjacency zone.
Espat says that whenever there are elections for the municipality of Melchor, the politicians on that side use land as leverage to gain political support from voters. According to him, these politicians encourage Guatemalans to parcel off pieces of land for themselves near the border on the Guatemalan side, and that usually leads to these Guatemalans setting up illegal settlements on his land. Espat says that they slowly encroach until the Belizean authorities are forced to step in and remove them.
But, earlier this year, several Guatemalan families began to make the most aggressive encroachment onto his property to date. He says that one teacher went as far as to build an unfinished concrete house on his property. He has tried to discourage the homeowner from doing so, and he says that since he is aware of the delicate nature of the territorial dispute between the two countries, he has been trying to be patient with the Belize Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene through the diplomatic channels.
From his perspective, their efforts have not been forceful enough, and he is worried that the longer the encroachment is allowed to continue, the more difficult it will become to remove the squatters.
He sat down with us this morning for an extended interview, in which he gave us an outline of his land dispute, which has international and diplomatic implications. Here's what he had to say:
Jorge Emilio Espat, Claims Guatemalan Encroachment
"It's an ongoing issue with the property, very delicate issue since every time they have municipality elections it has been a reoccurring issue whereas to gain room in the general elections for the municipality the parties involved direct the people to the Belizean territory which is my farm or my area, borderline to get parcels and to make settlements and also illegal immigrants without documents. This has been the worse. I recall the last incident we had, we had manage to let them leave the area. They were force to leave the area, but at this time I have been dialoging with government from around end of February to March when I made my report to the Benque Viejo Police Station which government had indicated to me that there were people squatting on the area. They found that by looking at registry."
Reporter
"Tell us about how aggressive the recent encroachment has been? We understand that people have actually built concrete structures on your land."
Jorge Emilio Espat
"Yes, indeed they have. There are 2 families - there were no structure at the time. There was just fenced properties with some cornfields and clearing of area, which was very recent at the time. Now, it has reached to the scenario that there is a teacher that made a very expensive investment, a concrete building which of course that is something that cannot be removed, it has to be destroyed eventually. Another person built a wooden structure and that was just recently. I would say perhaps maybe a month ago. We have been dialoging with government over the past 4-5 months and at the end of the day it's very futile. So now with that I am going and seeking legal advices and at the end of the day it's going to be a sad story. I believe that once it is in the hands of the court then they should rule judgement and if judgement is that there is supposed to be people evacuating the place or leaving the area, then by law or by force the government will have to and that's going to be a very delicate issue."
Reporter
"Talk to us about your letter to the government and the response you received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
Jorge Emilio Espat
"I decided now to write them a letter that since there is no positive response and sort of a non-indication of perhaps interest I'm seeking legal advice and a very brief letter for 2 sentences. Coming from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a minister, 2 sentences."
Reporter
"You feel they are not giving it the priority it deserves?"
Jorge Emilio Espat
"No priority, perhaps no interest. The letter just stated that they are working on it and that I can seek legal advice, as easy as that."
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