On Last night's news, we took you to the Belize/Guatemala Border at the edge of Benque Viejo Town. The area, known as Barrio El Juda, is where Guatemalans have begun encroaching on Belizean territory.
Now, that's a problem for the Belize Government, who will have to work with their counterparts in Guatemala to reverse the situation. But, on the ground, the man feeling the most pain from these encroachments is Belizean Jorge Emiliano Espat.
Land that has belonged to his family for several generations is slowly being lost to Guatemalan Campesinos who have built settlements along the border. The Guatemalans who we met yesterday say that they are among 30 families that have taken up residence in this location. The longer they are left to their own devices, the more they are building in Belize, and Espat is the man who keeps on losing.
That's the narrative from Belize's side, but we wondered what do the Guatemalans think about the allegation that they are encroaching. Well, as the press discovered yesterday, they assert that they are not doing anything wrong and that they are well within Guatemalan territory.
Espat got a chance to challenge them on that yesterday, and our cameras were rolling. With English translations, here's the back-and-forth from both sides:
Guatemalan National #1 (Male)
"It comes from Cadenas to here, simply because both countries, as I said, have not defined a line, because if there was a line, we would not be having this problem."
Belizean
"It is defined. It is defined."
Guatemalan National #1
"It's defined? Then how is it not visible? Do you understand me?"
Reporter
"And do you know of anyone here who admits that they're in Belizean territory?"
Guatemalan National #1
"Well, here, as I told you, we are not sure, and we cannot say that, yes, we are in Belizean territory."
Reporter (Female)
"So, do you have a title, then? from where?"
Guatemalan National #1
"All the lands from here to there have a title. And the Alcalde was here, the lands all the way to the stream had title."
Reporter
"So can you show us the title you have?"
Guatemalan National #1
"The titles are not here right now."
Guatemalan National #2 (Male)
"Then, we enter into the same problem, because if he has a title, how is it possible that here in Guatemala, there are titles. And that's when we get into a controversy."
Reporter (Female)
"We would like to see that title, as journalists, not authorities."
Guatemalan National #2
"He says he has a title, let him show it. We have a title, we'll show it, but the respective authorities."
Guatemalan National (Female)
"We don't know how the Government has those papers, because as far as we know, Belize has no specific line. No agreement has been reached. This area is still part of the municipality. It's not that it's part of Belize."
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