Faithful viewers of 7News have seen us taken trips time and again into the beautiful but dangerous Chiquibul National Park. By now, even the casual viewer probably known a thing or two about this reserve which is under sustained pressure from illegal Guatemalan encroachments.
But, one question that appeared to elude the public, is why do the Guatemalans continue to push in, and how do we stop it? Well, today, a Guatemalan Conservationist sat down with the media to discuss the widespread hunger and poverty which cause the Guatemalan living along the border to risk everything to push into the resource rich Chiquibul. 7News was there, and today, Daniel Ortiz takes a closer look at the answers provided:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
We're used to seeing images like these inside the Chiquibul, where Belizean Law Enforcement routinely arrests Guatemalans for encroachments. Whether they're denuding the forest of its tall timber, making agricultural incursions, hunting illegally, panning for gold, poaching Xate, and in some instances, even drug trafficking.
The Chiqiubul has become a dangerous place for Belizean law enforcement and the conservationists trying to protect this national treasure. The Belizeans walk the tight rope of trying to balance defending their lives against armed threats on one hand:
File: May 16, 2016
Hon. Wilfred Elrington - Minister of Foreign Affairs
"They say they met 10 of them and in the process of dealing with them, one of them became fairly violent and assaulted one of the rangers and I think he got injured in the process, that's as far as I know."
And on the other, they could cause an international incident should their engagement of a Guatemalan campesino result in a fatality:
File: April 21, 2016
Jimmy Morales - Guatemalan President
"The cowardly and excessive attack was against 13 year old Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano. I ask the Belizean authorities, what threat to your sovereignty do these two children pose? One 13 and the other 11? I want to express my strong condemnation of this cowardly act of aggression and use of excessive force."
For the rest of the public, awareness of the problem has been reactionary, and without the right context, these seemingly unending incursions into Belizean territory appear to have no lasting solution.
But for the first time today, the conservationists pulled the veil way back to reveal the root causes of the tense cross-border contact as the Belizeans try to slow down and eventually reverse the silent Chiquibul invasion.
FCD's Executive Director, Rafael Manzanero, brought his Guatemalan counterpart Byron Castellanos, from the Association Balam. That's the conservation group that has been working on the Forest reserves directly across border from the Chiquibul.
He had a frank conversation with the Belize media about what's fueling the incursions.
Byron Castellanos - Executive Director, Asociacion Balam
"The main causes that promote the flux of people coming in Belize are poverty and organized crime. This organized crime finances these poor communities for them to tresspass the border and come in Belizean territory to extract the natural resources. For many years the government has forgotten these populations. A 50 year problem cannot be easily solved. What you can see is what exists in Guatemala. Cantu, the forestation, organized crime, the highest threats are those that you can see listed there. The extraction of flora and fauna, the agricultural expansion, and also the illegal activities as drug trafficking. All these activities together pose the organized crime in the area. Those who finance the community are these structures that you can see listed on the slide. Organized crime pay for gold, fauna, agricultural production, drugs."
Balam and their other associations in Guatemala have been on a sustained effort to deal with the poverty issue, and to release the tight grip that organized criminals have on these impoverished communities. While they've had their successes, both he and his colleague, Rafael Manzanero say that the populations of both countries cannot see this as only a Guatemalan problem.
What happens in one country affects the neighbor.
Rafael Manzanero - Executive Director, FCD
"We believe that there is one ecosystem and there are two flags, Belize and Guatemala, and in order to maintain this ecosystem we have to combine our efforts together in terms of looking at that landscape for more a regional level."
Byron Castellanos
"FCD see that there's a clearer view that they need a Guatemalan ally."
So, that's the explanation from a Guatemalan about why his people have continued to venture illegally into Belizean territory. Tomorrow, we'll show you his frank answers about the fix he and other conservationists have been employing to convince those cross-border neighbours to stay home.
You'll be surprised to see how effective those methods have been in the last year.
