Welcome to 7News - It's a very loaded newscast tonight: there's plenty of politics including another secret recording, this time of a UDP politician, plus there was a murder and Deon McCauley tells us why he won't play football in Honduras…but first to a disturbing story from the Mayan Village of Santa Cruz in the Toledo District.
Toledo resident Rupert Miles is originally from Ladyville Village. He married a Mayan woman from the village of Santa Cruz and moved to Bella Vista Village to be closer to his wife's family. In October of last year, he decided to move his family to his wife's village, and that's when he and the Mayans of Santa Cruz started having a dispute. He claims that he tried to follow their customary laws to become a member of the village through the respected means. This included formally applying to the Village Council Chairman and the Alcalde, paying his fee, and getting that permission. He claims that he immediately encountered what he calls racism which played a big role in how the chairman handled his application. He claims that the chairman completely rejected his application, not on its merits or lack thereof, but simply because he didn't want any black men living in his community.
On the other side, the Mayans allege that he destroyed the sacred Uxbenka Maya site when he bulldozed a hill that forms a part of it, just so that he could get road access to his house. They claimed that he illegally built on the land and burnt vegetation, and built other structures without their permission, and so they tried to get him out peacefully.
Whatever the truth is, on Saturday, a group of villagers armed themselves with machetes formed a mob and went to round up Miles, who they subdued and handcuffed. Varying accounts say that the mob further demeaned him by dragging him around by a rope tied to the handcuffs. The Mayans dispute that and say that he was the one who was hostile to them, saying that if they confronted him, he would pull out his licensed weapon and open fire on them.
They then took him through the village to his "illegally built" house, but they chose to hold off on destroying it themselves. Here's Miles's version of the events.
Rupert Miles, was detained by Mayan Community
"When they came out a guy chopped after me with the machete while I was walking out. I dodged it and then I went to open the door of the vehicle. They then jumped on me and dashed me to the ground, hit me on my back and grabbed my hands. There were three men on each of my legs. I managed to turn my face up to see who were doing damage to me. The chairman had his hands choking my neck and his knee in my chest, while the second alcalde came and put a handcuff on my hands and tied it tight. The man grabbed my feet and tied up my feet together like I am a pig, so that I couldn't get loose. When I was trying to stand up, they pulled the rope and I fell to the ground. I managed to lose a rope on my feet."
"Three men on one rope and my hands handcuffed. What could I do? Three men held the rope while I was sitting on the ground. I told the men that I have rights too and my rights are that I can live wherever I want in this country. They told me not Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is communal land."
"They had me there until after 11am. They started to cut the other man vehicle tyres. When he drove off, they lashed his vehicle with a machete - he had to leave. While I was down there, people were passing and told the men that this isn't correct what they were doing. They called the police but no police came. So after 3pm, they decided to take me up at my house to have me watch them disassemble my house. They tied the rope between the handcuff and marched me through the village up to the entrance of my house. There, they tied my feet and my hands like a horse tied up with handcuff. They went with hammer and started to disassemble my house. I told them to go ahead, disassemble it, just that you all need to have money to pay me for the damage done, because I won't fight. That went there as a part of this so that the country of Belize and the world could see what kind of people you all are and how racist you all are and I am one black man. Imagine if another black man decided to try to live in this village? What will happen to him? They will kill him."
"Ms. Cristina Coc came up and she was dictating to them and even after this they went and see all what I ad in my house, a young baby in the bed - they say that they will not disassemble the house. They say that I have two weeks to remove the structure from there and come out of the village and if I want to come back in this village, I have to go through their procedures and try to see if we will accept you again. They told me either I agree to that or they will take down my house. They have a lady wrote a note and wanted me to sign it. I told them that they have to make two copies. Write one with the same contents on this on the other page and sign it and then I will sign it. I have proof that they forced me under handcuff. The only way I got out of that handcuff is when I signed that letter or that eviction that I will remove my house from there."
The Maya Leaders alliance released a statement which said, quote, "Santa Cruz villagers, the Village Chairman and Alcalde enforced their decision to protect Uxbenka (Ush-Ben-Ka) Maya sacred site. The action was taken as a last resort only after Punta Gorda Police, the Belize Defence Force (Fairweather Camp) and the Belize Institute of Archeology (NICH) were notified in advance of the Village's decision to dismantle an illegal structure built by Mr. Rupert Myles on Uxbenka. We've contacted The Maya Leaders Alliance, and their program coordinator told us by phone that Miles is making a false allegation. The MLA asserts that racism did not influence the interactions between the village of Santa Cruz and Miles. They've also attached a letter from Dr. Keith Prufer, the Director of the Uxbenka Archaeological Project. He's an Anthropology professor from the University of New Mexico in the US. He strongly warned the Belizean Institute of Archaeology of what he viewed as damage to the Mayan site. This evening, when we queried that with Rupert Miles, he told us he was not the one who bulldozed any hill.
But, just from the broad sketches - it is an ugly incident, and this afternoon in Dangriga, we asked the Prime Minister about it:
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"What I have seen, it is outrageous. I believe somebody sent me an attempted defense by the Mayans. That is indefensible. These people, they, I think were pretty much well-positioned in terms of public opinion. I believe they've lost that completely now with this sort of an action. Well they should. I mean, it is absolutely indefensible. I want to make clear to them again that, that consent judgement merely recognizes that they are entitled to certain rights. The nature of the rights is not spelled out. We have agreed we will set up some sort of a commission. We will hear from everybody - all parties in Toledo and elsewhere before we can come to a decision as to what their rights ought to be. In the meantime, for them to do something like this... they talk about their rights, what about that man's human rights? What about his rights as a Belizean? I don't know how on earth they can ever justify this. In my view they've lost whatever moral high ground they ever had and I want to look carefully at it to see if any of them might not perhaps be criminally liable from what they did to that gentleman."
Jules Vasquez
"They say he built a structure since 2014 on the Uxbenka site and they did this as a last resort. That's what their release says."
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Well I don't know about that. I don't know about their sites. What I know is tying up this man, falsely imprison him, physically assaulting him - that is absolutely intolerable and I am telling you, I mean to find out from the appropriate authorities what if anything they mean to do about it."
We'll have more on this story in tomorrow's newscast.
