On May 19, in what is the latest affront to the Maya peoples’ rights to our ancestral lands and natural resources, the Forestry Department confiscated 2,400 bay leaves which had been harvested by Conejo villagers on Conejo lands – lands to which the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that Conejo owns the title - and ordered villagers to leave the remaining 4,600 harvested bay leaves untouched on the ground.
Lying bundled and exposed to the elements, the leaves are now ruined, a lamentable waste of the bounties of the earth. Mr. Ponciano Choc from Cuxlin Ha village had sought and obtained permission from Conejo village to harvest these leaves to build a roof for his house. With the help of Conejo villagers, the leaves were cut and bundled for transport.
After he left Conejo lands, a Forestry official stopped him and confiscated the bay leaves because they were cut without a government permit. Maya people have been harvesting bay leaves for roofing for centuries, and have developed our own rules to ensure conservation of this resource. These rules are part of our customary land tenure system, and Maya villages have a customary right and responsibility to control the conditions under which their resources are used. The confiscation and destruction of Conejo’s bay leaves is the most recent example of the Government of Belize treading on Mayas’ human rights.
Oil exploration concessions, land grants for hydro dam development and logging also pose major threats to the Maya people of Toledo District by endangering our ability to continue with a way of life that has sustained us for countless generations. Like indigenous peoples worldwide and other peoples who depend on their lands and natural resources to provide them with daily sustenance, the continued destruction, loss and diminished quality of those lands and natural resources jeopardize not only the Mayas’ sources of nourishment, but also our health and survival of our culture.
Oil exploration concessions have been granted in at least two Maya villages, San Antonio and Jalacte, and were made without any notice to or consultations with village leaders. Oil exploration could have major consequences for people living where it occurs; the decisions to grant these concessions should not be made without consultation of the affected villages. Belize must not repeat the experiences of indigenous peoples around the world who have found themselves the unwilling hosts to oil extraction activities on their lands and witnessed the destruction that such activities cause.
The Maya of southern Belize stand in solidarity with other Belizeans who object to off-shore oil drilling in Belize’s waters, particularly in light of the Deepwater Horizon disaster off the U.S. coast.
Recent activities surrounding the potential development of a hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River near the Maya villages of San Pedro Columbia and San Miguel has already resulted in the looting of two Maya archeological sites and significantly impacted the two villages.
Not only did Belize Hydroelectric Development and Management Company Ltd. illegally bulldoze acres of forest and set up labor camps in forests used by the two villages without getting the necessary permits nor an environmental impact assessment, but the government sold lands surrounding the river to the company without first verifying whether those lands are already the property of surrounding Maya villages.
The villages were not given notice of nor consulted about the project or the sale of land. In fact, several Maya villages customarily use these lands and as the government well knows, the Maya Leaders Alliance currently has a case before the courts seeking an injunction against sales of such lands.
Logging also continues to pose significant threats to Maya lands and natural resources. Since April 2010, significant logging of rosewood and bulldozing of lands occurred in community lands of Santa Ana village, restricting villagers’ access to the river, road, and their farmlands. This was done without the consent of the village and without even documentation from the Government.
Similarly, a developer recently informed San Jose village that he would begin logging operations within their lands. He asked permission to extend a logging road into their lands, while at the same time indicating that he would seek a permit from the government to do so regardless of the village’s position.
This Maya village has a long history of rejecting logging on their lands, including the logging activities of a Malaysian company in the 1990s. Over a decade later, the government continues to ignore and facilitate these threats to Maya land and lives.
Some of these threats and activities affect not only Maya villages, but also all Belizeans and our unique and pristine shared environment. The loss and destruction of national nature and forest reserves impacts all of us to some degree, but the direct effects of oil exploration, the damming of rivers, and unsustainable harvesting of natural resources threatens the cultural and spiritual wellbeing of the Maya people, as well as their physical survival.
In 2007, the Supreme Court recognized that this kind of interference violates our constitutional rights to life, security of the person, and protection of the law. Does the government care nothing for the lives of Maya Belizeans, or for the Constitution?
The Maya Leaders Alliance expresses its frustration with the continued manner in which the Government of Belize disregards the rights of the Maya peoples and refuses to even engage in the most minimal acts of recognition and respect, such as consulting with Maya villages about activities taking place on their lands without their consent.
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