Since the Maya meeting in Santa Elena at the end of last month, the government has begun meeting the residents in their villages. They started with Big Falls and this past weekend they were in San Pedro Colombia. While they may not be able to visit every village, they're determined to go to as many as possible to host consultations about the draft Maya Land Tenure Policy. Sunday's meeting started with the Minister of Rural Development and Toledo West area rep, Oscar Requena, clearing the air with the villagers.
Oscar Requena, Minister of Rural Development
"We're not against anybody, we're all Belizeans and we have to learn to respect each other, we have to learn, a part of respecting each other is listening, we have to listen, we have to be able to exchange our views in a very respectful manner, we will not always agree on everything because we have different views, that's how God made us but the least we can do is listen to each other, clarify, ask questions, and at the end of the day, based on facts and information that is going to be beneficial to you, to your community, to all of us and by extension, for all Belizeans of our country."
And the purpose of the meeting was for the residents to air their concerns and get their questions answered. Here is a snippet of how that went.
Resident
"I have two titled properties, because of that tenure system that I have, I am concerned that if I lose that, then I will have to be asking somebody or waiting for somebody to give me rights to a piece of land when I already have a titled property."
"When I was growing up I used to hear something like this and I will try to remember as close as I can. If it is for everybody, it is for nobody. So I think that in Colombia there is already a system where people recognize who owns which piece, we respect that already and therefore I am asking let us consider it very keenly."
Resident
"I read this policy about two times, this is my first time sitting down and listening to you, Counsel, so a few observations, the way you speak about that core area, I realized that individual private lands, lease lands, fall within that core area. The lands beyond the six kilometer, where we decide the center may be, if we go that route, more than likely those farmlands are lease lands, those 30-acre blocks, more than likely, they are titled lands so my question is if Colombia do decide communal land is the way to go, who will compensate us for those lands?"
Andrew Marshalleck, Lead Government Attorney
"If you could show that you've been there then no communal title can be given for that space as the policy now stands. That is why it's drafted in that fashion so those spaces will be protected. But yes there's a right to compensation and with regard to compensation, there is one provision that affects village members because if you are a part of the village and you decide to give up your title to communal land, then you can't expect to be paid back the full market value for that title because you now as a member of that community also continue to own the land, it's not that it's lost, it's the way you could use it now changes to reflect what the customary practices are."
Resident
"I wish that the Alcalde and the chairman and some other third party of neutral interest to go to each home and get, let us get what we call a consensus. What do you think about this, do you want property to your land, do you want to remain on this land? Until then we can present where Colombia is because even if we take a majority vote here it is still a minority vote of Colombia."
Email
Print