Yesterday, our colleagues from PG TV News in the south traveled to both Barranco and Midway to get a first-hand account of some of the issues that are causing these neighboring indigenous peoples to have this land dispute.
They spoke first with Dr. Francis Arzu, who got that stop order from the Lands Department for clearing of lands that they believe should be Barranco Traditional Lands. Here's what he had to say:
Dr. Francis Arzu
"It is expected and known and agreed upon traditionally and culturally and customary that the lands of Barranco did start from the More River all the way down to Sarstoon. And this was as long ago as the 1850. The only village that bordered at Barranco was Conejo and there was no indegenous detriment."
Reporter
"Now today where we are standing, is your land considered a part of Midway Village or a part of Barranco Village?"
Dr. Francis Arzu
"Well we would have to check with lands on that. The usual data you get is along the Barrano road. All we are trying to prove, one, to CCJ and two, to the Government of Belize, that we are of the opinion that there is not a balance. That perhaps the possibility, because of the ruling that one group of indigenous people have more say over another because of the ruling. But again, I believe that when one indigenous group is a threat or whatever decision made is a detriment to the other then it raises a red flag. And when individuals in the Barranco land area are told to cease and desist, or a stop order, then that is detrimental. That is detrimental to that indigineous group even if it is just an individual. But that individual belongs to that group, belongs to that body or group of people- the Garinagu of Barranco. By 2014, permission to survey was granted to people of Barranco. And I being a member of that community I wanted to model, as a leader, what it is all about. So I got my 25 acres, my wife got her 25 acres, other Barranco people got their 25 acres and to me it was my obligation, because of my training, I decided I am going to lead my people and show them how somebody can create a farm because then somebody when you lead, just talk talk but no action. So therefore I wanted to match both of them. The then border which we are going to go to should not have been a threat to us because all of this was our traditional lands. So we understood that this was our customary land. So we were not looking at any possible misunderstanding or any possible detriment to our well being from the ruling. We did not see it like that."
They also spoke with the Chairman of Midway about their perspective on the dispute with Barranco.
The Chairman said that as long as there is open dialog, all of these minor disagreements can be resolved:
Chairman, Midway Village
"The problem with that stop order we are trying to focus on our boundary. The CCJ court along with the government and Maya Leaders Alliance working together to get this boundary going, so we ask the village council, because he is in the village council also, so we never know that this land was before the CCJ, if he had known that he could have come and sit down with us and discuss it. Its not a big problem, you bring your papers, you show us and then we move on, but this is not happening. We want to negotiate, we want to settle who had land before the CCJ, so we can accept them in our community, we can call them Midway people, we do not hate people, we love people."
Reporter
"So you like to have a dialogue with the village leaders of Barranco and Midway together. What have you done to try and get that meeting going?"
Chairman, Midway Village
"Well I sent a letter to the chairman a month ago. Dr. Arzu wrote me a letter stating that the boundary was set already and it's by the Midway Cooperative. Like it was already agreed, but that is just by saying. We don't see the papers. If we see somebody that sign on the paper between Midway and Barranco then we agree on that."
"We don't like that they plan the monument without giving notice to the community. If I go close to your land or in your land and if I don't ask permission then that means you are disrespecting me."
"These are the things that bring us in going over on this matter so that we can settle down."
In other news related to indigenous peoples - reliable reports to 7News indicate that the government is seriously considering a Maya woman to be Belize's next Governor General.
