Over the past few weeks, we've been bringing you news coverage of the dispute down in the Village of Seine Bight, located on the Placencia Peninsula
As we told you, the management of Publics, the local supermarket chain, is in the process of expanding their commercial operations that the community. They already have a supermarket there, and the developers are now building a gas station, which has provoked sustained outrage from some residents of the community.
We showed you a few of their arguments against the development, which they insist that they are not opposing directly. Chief among their concerns is a public health and public safety for their community. They are concerned that if there is any fire or explosion at the gas station, it would threaten the residents who live in close proximity. They are also upset because, from their perspective as proud members of the Garifuna culture, they are feeling displaced.
One of those villagers is Kaina Martinez, who rose to prominence in Belize as a talented track and field athlete, who has represented the country abroad in a number of competitions.
Last week, she spoke to us via Zoom to share her frustration about what some residents see as a PR spin of continued development on behalf of Seine Bight. Here's how she challenged that:
Kaina Martinez, Resident, Seine Bight
"For us to get anything or work towards getting anything, it's always a long process and with this gas station popping up out of the blues, and then everything was granted to them, it's like disregarding me, not only me, but the community of Seine Bight as a group of people or as the villages that lives here. Let's talk about development. Let's talk about the people. The Seine Bight people - the truth is they don't even have the health center for years. that's a basic human need. The police station and if you can go to the police station that they have right now, I live in that police station, you know why, I was raised by a single mother who end up work at that place and the place is the same way as it is many years ago. We don't even have a fire station in this community. How much houses have been burnt down in this community and they are building a gas station that has hazardous, how can we even think about that and say its development, because there is a lot of needs for development and human development within this community that haven't been touched. Let's start with where Seine Bight ends and where it start. That has been a problem. Seine Bight is not Seine Bight anymore, Seine Bight is north Placencia, what a disrespect to us as Garifuna people, when I have to go get my mom land paper and it says Placencia North."
Martinez also told us that she has been trying to get a property to start a local business and a youth outreach program through sports. She insisted that her pleas through the proper channels have been ignored. Here's how she contrasted her personal challenges with the rapid development of the gas station:
Kaina Martinez, Resident, Seine Bight
"For years I've been trying to get a piece of land since the government has forced us to purchase land and I still got any to live in Seine Bight for 35 years. I even went as far as seeing ministers and the reality is I've just been pushed and turned and when you call those numbers and send those emails, they don't respond. So when I see stuff like that and they claim and call it development, it's really not, because you are not helping the people that lives in this community. Honestly, I've lived here for 35 years and I feel displaced in my own country and even worse in my community. I've been here for months and I feel mentally exhausted trying to get something and create something, because everybody else come here and they get preferential treatment."
"Sometimes I wish I wasn't a Belizean, you hear me say this out for the first time and you know why, because as a Belizean I have a hard time maneuvering to access and utilized my skills and talents and provide and give to this country. It's a challenge, but anybody else who comes in this country can get anything, Land of the free, it's not for me a Belizean, because it doesn't feel like that and I know there are many others like myself, who have not been as fortunate as I have been. Having my degree in business, sociology, communication and mental health - that 4 degrees, my idea has always been to use sports as a catalyst to help young people recognize the power that they have within, because like myself there are many other young people that have what I have, this country have seen that I have, but they need opportunities."
