Turning now to the south, last week there was a flare up along the boundary of the villages Yemeri Grove and Laguna. As we have reported, these two villages, the former kriol and the latter mayan have a simmering dispute over where Yemer's land ends and communal Maya lands begin.
And, on Thursday, it boiled over. We compiled interviews from PGTV:
This was the scene of the showdown on Thursday - when Yemeri villagers came out to object to land clearing and property pegs placed on what they say is their village territory - by residents of the adjoining Maya Village, Laguna.
Harold Usher, Chairman, Yemeri Grove
"The people of Yemenr grove, we are annoyed, and it is so disgusting that we have reached out so much, for so long to the government. We had tried to ask them to assist us because we have these people from the MLA and the Laguna Village as far as we can see they come around and they're just cutting, they're cleaning they're demarcating land within the traditional boundaries of Yemeri Grove and so far we have not gotten any assistance from the government."
"As far as we know, when we seek anyone from the government, they are telling me that the situation is touchy. Now for us, residents of this village, they are telling us that it is touchy, but as you can see the people from the Laguna village and people under the umbrella of the MLA they are demarcating, they are cleaning, they are just drawing land, and I want to send a message that we will not tolerate that."
"As the chairpersons of Yemeri Grove, there is no way that we will stand by and we will have no one step into our village and just take our land as they feel."
"As far as I am concerned we're going to take out every but one of those junk that they have put in that was not placed by the government of this country. And as far as I am concerned, it is unconstitutional to go and place any cement pillar within any land that is not yours. The only entity that can come and place cement pillars on any lot is a registered survey officer, a registered surveyors and the land must be used by the state, not by the MLA, not by Ms Cristina."
It was a tense standoff - and a sure sign that things are coming to a head:
Harold Usher, Chairman, Yemeri Grove
"And I have been calling, I have been writing, I have been crying for assistance. And no one seems to want to assist us. The way, what I'm seeing and what I'm getting from this is that the only way they might assist us is that whenever this thing actually resort to some sort of a violence of something."
"Because we're calling on the government, we're bawling on the government, we're trying to be humble, we're civilized people, we're asking them to please step in and do something because we won't stand by any longer and watch these people do what they want."
"Remember that this is not only Yemeni grove, we have a lot of people Belizeans, black people like me, East Indian people, Hispanic people right, who needs a piece of land, just like the way the members of the Mayans community needs land, the other Belizeans needs a piece of land, right?"
"You are talking about Belize is for Belizeans. And you are also saying that Belize is rice and beans. This is not rice and beans. This is damn caldo! Because one group of people is eating from this."
Speaking of that same flare up - on Thursday the Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Dolores Balderamos Garcia said she has asked all the parties to, quote, "hold it down until we can…do the demarcation of the boundaries in a way…maybe not everybody will like it but at least there can be compromise and we can do the limitation of boundaries in consultation with neighbouring villages…" End quote.
