It's been a little over a month now since tensions arose between the villages of Laguna and Yemeri Grove. The latter village has been accusing Laguna of encroaching on its lands by putting up survey markers, and as one of the few non-Maya villages in that area, they are concerned. However, the Laguna villagers say they know exactly where their land begins and where it ends, and are simply utilizing the rights granted to them by the court.
This issue has caused the need for police invention in at least one instance, and the Minister as well as the area rep have pleaded with the villagers to keep the peace while they continue to mediate between them.
In the meantime, an investigation was being carried out, and according to Minister Dolores Balderamos Garcia, it was found that the Laguna villagers were illegally placing survey markers. She emphasized that the government is committed to abiding by the CCJ judgement, but that the only entity with authority to place markers is the Lands Department.
She is also calling on the villagers - in any feuding communities - to show restraint, lest we have a repeat of the protest against Prince Williams' visit, which Balderamos Garcia referred to as an 'embarrassment.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Indigenous People's Affairs
"I would like to read one little section of that on the ground report that was done and it says thus. Based on the findings of the inspection, the area in question is being occupied and has been illegally surveyed by the village council of Laguna. The area is in close proximity or adjacent to Laguna Village where we saw clearings and construction of homes occurring. The area is being disputed by both villages as land belonging to their own communities."
"In our country, based on our laws, the survey act and the lands act as we now know it, the only entity that can sanction license surveyors to place survey markers which are usually a steel, or you put the steel on the cement and then you put them on the ground, the only entity in our country that can legally do that, lawfully, is licensed surveyors based on the sanction of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Petroleum."
"The consent order of the Caribbean Court of Justice does not give Maya villages Carte Blanche. We must say that markers placed not by the Lands Department are not legally sanctioned and therefore we want to ask parties to refrain from doing such things especially in areas where we have some dispute."
"So it's unfortunate the occurrence of a week or two ago where there may have been some breach of the peace. Thankfully, there wasn't but we believe that there is no need for that kind of thing going forward and so I am appealing to all concerned let us exercise restraint, there is no need for an escalation of any tension, anywhere in the south, in particular the Toledo District."
"We know that there is some issue still going on in the Indian Creek area in Toledo where we have the Bodden Creek land and cattle company with a huge land owning and the shares of that company are completely owned and controlled by I think a British NGO called Fauna and Flora International and probably I can pause here just to mention that it is certainly the position of this government and this ministry that it was unfortunate what had occurred at the beginning of Prince William and Princess Kate's visit last year. It was unfortunate because we believe Flora and Fauna International, of which Prince William is the patron, did not advise their patron properly and did him really a monumental disservice in not acknowledging to the dignitary and the foreign royal that there was difficulty and tension in Indian Creek and so of course as we know his visit started with some amount of embarrassment and difficulty."
