Minister Shoman also discussed the illegal Guatemalan settlement of Santa Rosa in southern Belize. It has been there for 13 years and while its population has steadily declined, Shoman says that the 100 or so residents who are still there are ready to go back to a resettlement area in Guatemala and it's now just a matter of time, a very short time.
Hon. Lisa Shoman,
"At this point in time it is about a hundred people. They are living in utter misery. They themselves have now signed three separate sets of documents saying that they wish to leave. There was a situation some years ago in which they were being encouraged, we believed at the time, by persons to stay. That situation has changed. These people wish to leave and they are in the process, we are in the process of working on a situation where the people of Santa Rosa, having signed that they wish to leave, will leave."
Khalila Enriquez, Co-Host
"All of them individually have signed?"
Hon. Lisa Shoman,
"All of them in terms of heads of households and persons who are over the age of 18 have signed."
Evan "Mose" Hyde, Co-Host
"On the matter of Santa Rosa, you say that the people want to move."
Hon. Lisa Shoman,
"They've signed documents three times to that effect, yes. And in fact they have a roster of the order in which they wish to move. The stage at which we are at now is that they have got to have somewhere to live and so housing is being built for them and I believe a school and community center is also being built for them."
Khalila Enriquez,
"Where exactly in Guatemala is this land?"
Hon. Lisa Shoman,
"Its about 40 kilometers from where Santa Rosa currently is. There is not one single Guatemalan settled in our land except for the Santa Rosa people who we expect will be leaving the area shortly. They have indicated that they wish to do so. The land for their removal has been already purchased."
Khalila Enriquez,
"When you say shortly you mean three months, six months?"
Hon. Lisa Shoman,
"I believe that this will occur by the end of the year because that is where we are with that. Houses are currently being built for them in Guatemala. The land has purchased by donor communities, by countries who have given funds for the purpose, not one penny of Belizean taxpayer money has gone into that and I believe the Guatemalans have not put one penny of their money."
Evan "Mose" Hyde,
"So by the end of the year they'll be gone?"
Hon. Lisa Shoman,
"By end of the year..."
Evan "Mose" Hyde,
"No more Santa Rosa."
Hon. Lisa Shoman,
"Should be gone, yes."
We note that the planned date for complete resettlement comes very near to Guatemala's runoff elections slated for the first week in November. Notable because Guatemalan elections are known to play havoc with what they call, "the Belize question."
