It's gone from a sleepy rural village to ground zero for evidence of illegal logging in Belize. But the situation on the ground in Boston Village has changed somewhat since we last visited on Friday. Jules Vasquez returned today:
This morning we revisited the open area where the logs had been stockpiled - we saw that all the heavy equipment was gone. It happened yesterday:
Nickoli Alvarado, Chairman - Boston Village
"And yesterday we had the forestry department out here along with the police and some other department in some big one."
"They moved the rest of the equipment, the bulldozer, the towhead, the tractor, the front end loader. Those were moved yesterday. They were supposed to go to the Sandhill Police Station, but I guess they're in Shipyard right now."
"We were denied access into the place. No pictures were allowed to be taken. You can't have your phone out. And yeah, it seems that we were the bad one, right? Because they told us that we like to stir up trouble."
"But I guess it's good trouble. But I guess that's what happened when you stand up, right?"
The Deputy Chief Forest Officer told us they had planned to hold the equipment at the Sandhill Police station but due to previous situations where equipment was damaged or stolen while in the care of the police, they decided to have Scenes of Crime document all the equipment that was being used and record it in the presence of the logger. He was allowed to park the equipment back at his sawmill but was told that Forestry reserves the right to request any of the pieces of equipment if the court deems it necessary.
Nickoli Alvarado, Chairman - Boston Village
"I don't know how they vandalized the Sandhill police station. That's something new. If it is under a checkpoint and police are there 24 seven. So that I don't know how it get vandalize there. Maybe in the bush. Maybe it will get vandalize in the bush, but not the police station. Right."
"I mean, if it was someone from around here that did that right now, they would be in shackles and bars right at a station there or at Ladyville pisshouse waiting for trial or charges. So just special circumstances."
And the Chairman also maintains a healthy skepticism about the logs that were extracted. In the past few days, he's accompanied the Forestry Department deep down these trails that the loggers were using to extract timber.
Nickoli Alvarado, Chairman - Boston Village
"We gone back there, we checked the logs and those are freshly cut, within four, five days of cut, so you have over a hundred trees that were freshly cut."
"Well we didn't go all the way to the end because the trail continues going and going and going and it's just a mess, back there is a mess. I don't think the forest will actually recover from that right now. I mean last 2 years we had a forest fire back there - we had monkeys around up until 4 months ago we had monkeys, you hear them howling and now gone and all he time you hear on the news jaguars getting hit, tapirs getting hit, but it's not really the animal fault. If you do stuff like this and tear out the jungle that's their habitat. So where did they go? They have to come on the road to find new areas and that's what happen over and over again and this area is actually very healthy for jaguars. We see the jaguars tracks all the time on these trails where are going. We see tapir tracks, you even meet tapir sometimes in the jungle walking around. At night you come out here you hear all sorts of animals, you could see all sorts of animals, but that's their habitat and we just tear through it."
Torn through and vastly denuded. The Chairman insists the logs are illegal:
Nickoli Alvarado, Chairman - Boston Village
"The logs that were stamped as approval, those logs that were stamped as approval aren't approved logs, and if the forest officer had did his due diligence and see where they got the logs from - all the logs that are stamped as approved are from illegal areas, none of them are from that concession area."
But, while that is his position, the Forestry Department - from what we gather - is not convinced:
Nickoli Alvarado, Chairman - Boston Village
"Bring out, come out here with the map and show us. We know where the boundaries are. Come out here with the map and show us. I know where the boundaries area. From the first time these guys came in I told them that they are out their boundary, two to three kilometers of of your boundary. That's a lot you know. That's a lot. You know how much logs over the last 3 months. We uncovered what, Jules, about 3 - 400 logs maybe, or more on the ground? That that was cut within the last two weeks -....not that were cut months ago and left to be taken out cause it's passed the concession date. That's a bunch of bull right?"
Jules Vasquez
"Yeah when I spoke to the Deputy Chief Forest Officer, he told me, well, the only violation is that they mi di cut after July 31st."
Nickoli Alvarado, Chairman - Boston Village
"These logs, that's bull, I would like him to come out because the guy on the ground that is doing the inspection we lost all confidence in him from months ago when he came out and "all is good, all is good, all is good" - yes every week is "all is good." And now when he was forced to come out what did he have to do? Stamp the same log as disapproved what he had approved. So that's a shame on him, right? I would have feel shame walking around with the same hammer that I had approved a log with to stamp. It now as disapproved. Imagine that!"
It is a sharp reversal - and the Chairman hopes these loggers have to face the consequences for it:
Nickoli Alvarado, Chairman - Boston Village
"What I want to see is these guys go to jail. That is what I would want to see and hope they go to jail. But of course we know that may not happen because the bigger guys they don't go to jail, right? Just the small men will go to jail."
But regardless of the outcome - he says this blow-up should put a long pause ot logging in and around Boston:
Nickoli Alvarado, Chairman - Boston Village
"We have put a stop to that in our village and hopefully for the next three years while we are in office there won't be any more logging like this in Boston village."
One measure being proposed by the Forestry Department is to discontinue the issuance of short term logging licenses which are prone to abuses. We note these are usually issued at the request of PUDP area representatives as political plums for favoured constituents.
