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Tonight, we look at the significance and context of this letter:

This sharply worded letter from the Central Building Authority may be the first time that the developers of Cayo Rosario got a formal "no" or "stop" from any Belizean authority.

This after they built a pier and other structures without prior approval from the Authority.

The April 2025 letter contrasts sharply with the generous tone of this letter from the Prime Minister's CEO Narda Garcia in 2021 - which had a sharp difference in tone.

That letter liberally gives developer Daniel Kalenov support and approval for all the developer could desire: from 40 overwater structures, to a 600 foot dock and pier, to a mangrove clearing permit, to the extraction of 25,000 cubic yards of sand by dredging, a submarine cable, and a wastewater treatment plant.

It's as green a a light can get - the word approve or approval appears in there 10 times. It's highly questionable her Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment even has the authority to issue so many approvals - but it's all in there.

Billy Leslie, ACCSD (Ambergris Caye Citizens Sustainable Development)
"A lot of times, politicians say, well it wasn't us it was the previous government. And in our investigations we found out it was the present government."

And, now the CBA has stepped out boldly to say that "Several buildings were constructed without approved permits, and construction has commenced on the entrance pier without the required permit." We note that Garcia's liberal letter gave approval for "The construction of a 600-foot Arrival Dock and a 600-foot Service Pier" - and it did not say pending approval from any other authority or office.

For opponents of the project, it's a rare victory. For them, the logic of a development with overwater structures in a marine reserve has always been elusive:

Billy Leslie, ACCSD (Ambergris Caye Citizens Sustainable Development)
"If you protect something, and you go and you read the SI about it, it says, no structures, no dredging."

Elito Arceo, ACCSD (Ambergris Caye Citizens Sustainable Development)
"It is mind-boggling to me to see that on a protected area. He can build on his island. That's his right, right? But you don't own the water around it. And it's just, it's not only the water around it, it is specifically in the conservation zone of the marine reserve."

"You want to build some over the blue hole? You want to build some over the half moon caye?"

Billy Leslie, ACCSD
"We are emotional because we protected an area, okay? We protected an area. Now this development wants to use outside of their property. They want to use the protected area."

They conservationists see it as more high stakes land flip on what for them is sacred ground, or sacred sea:

Billy Leslie, ACCSD (Ambergris Caye Citizens Sustainable Development)
"It's not somebody that cares. It's somebody that wants to come, get something built and go away. Why should we go and satisfy one developer, a greedy money monger that wants to build and sell? Why should we satisfy him? Then we destroy our ecosystem. And the countless number of people that depend on an ecosystem to stay well. Protected means protected, right? Building your own island, you have no right to destroy what is actually sustaining a huge industry that pours in millions of dollars to the economy. Because whatever building he sells, I guarantee you 100% of that money will go from one US account to the next US account and nothing will be thrown in Belize."

The environmental compliance plan dated October of 2020 - the month before general elections - has just emerged. The timing also raises suspicions for these conservationists:

Elito Arceo, ACCSD (Ambergris Caye Citizens Sustainable Development)
"Up to a couple of days ago was the Environmental Compliance Plan actually available."

Billy Leslie, ACCSD
"If I am not mistaken, it would maybe a week up to now. That after all those years, it was non-existent. And now it is. So it tells you, there's big players behind it that have deliberately held back on information."

And now the Cayo Rosario Development is proving just to be a flashpoint in a wider observation awareness as San Pedro witnesses areas like this - which used to be a mangrove forest and lagoon turn into a vast and featureless wasteland, or this litter of dead mangroves, not an uncommon sight on the island.

Leslie says government may be undermining its own blue bond commitments:

Billy Leslie, ACCSD (Ambergris Caye Citizens Sustainable Development)
"We made a deal with TNC and we're supposed to by next year have a 30-30. We have to protect 30% of our marine environment and we have to protect 30% of our mangroves. The mangroves which is only 3.4% of all our area has been threatened by development countrywide. How can we go to meet that threshold if every development is just cutting left and right?"

The CBA letter says that the stop order will remain in effect until all necessary permits are obtained from the CBA for all structures and construction activities on the site. Kalenov's group now has to submit applications and plans for all outstanding permits to the CBA immediately.