At the top of the newscast we told you about the land dispute involving More Tomorrow villagers.
They say a private developer is cutting in on lands that had been publicly acquired in 1998 for their use.
For over a decade, they have been trying to get a final one thousand acres set aside for them - but now 701 of those acres seem to be in private hands.
To get some perspective on this - we'd have to go back into our archives. In March of 2011, we first stumbled onto the story - not knowing the full scope of the dispute.
We just knew people were squatting on the land - which was about to be claimed by a private developer - a Taiwanese group. Since then the Taiwanese owners have sold the land and the headache - but that doesn't mean it has gone away. And now, those squatters are the settlers on a disputed piece of land.
From the original March 2011 story, here's their claim to ownership:
Jules Vasquez Reporting
This farm off the More Tomorrow Road is covered with all kinds of trees
Marcelino Umana, Squatter
"Plantain, lime, bananas, sour sop, mango, pear and....."
And about twenty other things - Marcel Umana has been on this 25 acre spread for land for 7 years and grows everything.
The naturalized Belizean who says he came here from El Salvador in 1979 - says he has worked the land.
Jules Vasquez
"You like this piece of land."
Marcelino Umana, Squatter
"Yes because I sweat to clean this land."
But what if it wasn't really his land - even after all that work? Documents provided to us show that this and at least eleven other homes, farms and recently cleared areas off the More Tomorrow Road are on private property owned by Chinese Investors.
This farmer - also a naturalized Belizean - who has only been here for a month - wouldn't speak to us on camera has a watermelon orchard including corn and peppers.
They've put in work, but they may be forced to give it all up:
Jules Vasquez
"If someone come and say you have to move. This is someone else's land, what would you do? You have 25 acres."
Marcelino Umana, Squatter
"If someone comes? What do you mean?"
Jules Vasquez
"If someone comes and says 'I am the owner and you are invading' what would you tell them?"
Marcelino Umana, Squatter
"I don't have to move. I think I will have to fight to this land."
An understandable sentiment; they say they have authority to be here:
Marcelino Umana, Squatter
"I am not squatting. Somebody put me here."
Jules Vasquez
"Who is that someone?"
Marcelino Umana, Squatter
"The chairman of More Tomorrow."
Another farmer even told us they paid a mystery woman one thousand dollars - but the fact is these squatters want permanent status.
Marcelino Umana, Squatter
"I want the paper from the government."
Private property signs were put up by the developer, but those were taken down by residents.
We have seen an April 2012 letter form the land commissioner telling police to instruct the developer to desist until a meeting can be held. That meeting has not been held.
