Email

Print

This morning, the company's general manager spoke with us via zoom, and he said that the company is at risk of losing over a million dollars in investment due to the arson:

Gilbert Canton Jr. - GM, Valley Of Peace Farms
"Between 9:30 and 10 o'clock on the 1st of January, New Years Day, 3 arsonists on motorcycles entered the farm and set 4 to 6 fires in our cane fields on the eastern, and we had a good easterly wind going. So, those fires spread quickly. We only had our 2 security guards on the farm, 1 off the farm, and they were able to give chase a little bit. But, they weren't able to catch the guys. We brought as many people as fast as we could, and it took us about 5 hours to kind of get the fire under control. So, by about 3 o'clock, we had it under control, but it already burnt about 1,208 acres of sugar cane that's valued at about 2.3 million Belize dollars. We, right now, have, with the help of Santander and Banana Bank - we are going to launch a massive recovery effort, and try to get the cane harvested and sent to the Santander mill, which is cranking up early - about a day early to try to assist us. So, we'll try to recover as much of that as we can. So, let's see what happens. Really, after you burn, you have to get it out within 72 hours. Now that fire was on Saturday, So, even before the mill starts, we'll be at 72 hours. The mill has a lab with it, and it will do, and it will do assessments to see if the cane could be processed, and they will process for us long as the cane is still good. But, its value is decreasing rapidly. We expect we'll lose anywhere from one-half to three-fourths of that 2.3 million-dollar value."

Reporter
"What do you all think motivated these arsonists to just destroy property that has such a high value?"

Gilbert Canton Jr.
"Several farmers from Valley of Peace are - and I don't want to speculate on who did this, but that's the only argument that we have with anybody. So, the police are doing their investigation, and they will help us to try to identify who has done this, and what has happened here. I think it's too early to really go out and say we think it's so and so because the police have to do their investigation. A big part of moving ahead as well is we need to have peace in this area. So, what I will have to say to the folks who set these fires is look, we are a peaceful neighbor. We are not looking to fight with anybody here. We want to move ahead peacefully. So, there's no reason for this sort of violence and crime in our area. We need to get past that and move on. This doesn't make any sense to do this."

At this time, police are trying to determine who the perpetrators are. Back in January of last year, almost a year ago, Valley of Peace Farms had a similar incident on a smaller scale. Someone lit their 20-acre field on fire, but they were able to quickly contain the blaze.

As you heard, Canton explained that the only dispute they have is their land fight with farmers from Valley of Peace Village. The company has titles for over 11,000 acres of farmland near the community. But, within these thousands of acres, a little over 50 farmers from Valley of Peace are claiming to have leases for - or rights over -several hundred acres that are also owned by the company. There appears to have been duplication at the Lands Department, according to sources.

We asked Canton about the ongoing attempts to resolve that land fight, and he said the two sides have been in negotiations to hopefully settle it with compromises on both sides:

Gilbert Canton Jr.
"In August, we had received 2 judgments that had kind of defined the first 2 court cases in that dispute, and they've gone in favor of our company. Now, at that point in time, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees and the Human Rights Commission of Belize had then come out to the forefront to say, hey, we will now negotiate for these squatters. So, that negotiation started. We were getting close to signing an MOU, which would have us giving back 416 acres of land, for the purpose of providing a place for these folks to farm. So perhaps - I don't know - perhaps maybe, some folks weren't happy."

This evening, we spoke with Julius Espat, the elected representative whose constituency this dispute is located in, and he pretty much confirmed the comments made by Canton on the negotiations to settle this matter. He told us that both he and the organizations involved in these talks are only seeking to act as impartial mediators between the farmers and the company.