Tonight - the legal battle lines are drawn between 60 famers and the private owners of a 1,000 plus acre estate in San Antonio Village.
It's a follow up to a story we first reported on 6 weeks ago about a land dispute on Maya Ranch.
Property manager Julian Sherrard gave us his side of the story after he said one of the farmers - who's squatting on the land - tried to kill him.
Well today, we got to hear it from the farmers perspective. Jaleeza Roberts met a busload of them:
They hoisted signs that said "no farmers, no food, no future" and "we need land justice."
Those were the messages brought forward by a a group of about 30 farmers from San Antonio village, young and old who gathered in Lopez Mateos Park in Belize City.
Now, it's not every day you see full time rural farmers in the heart of a city residential neighborhood, but that's how it played out today when th came by the busload to visit their attorney Bryan Neal.
For nearly 50 years, Maya Ranch in San Antonio Village has stood as private property, first as cattle land, now preserved for wildlife. Property manager Julian Sherrard told us these farmers unlawfully entered the land, cleared sections, and began planting crops. Things escalated when he claimed one of the farmers tried to kill him.
That would be Dan Lopez and today he gave us his version of the gun stand off:
Dan Lopez, Farmer
"We have been working in the land for many years. And all of these farmers, we have been in there working for many years and with no interruption. Until the second day of January that I had a situation that me and my two sons went to the field and sprayed a bean field, six acres of bean field we have there. And on my way back around 3:30 in the evening, on my way I saw three persons arriving towards me, which for security of my kids, I told them to get down from my tractor and just go to the neighbor house. And due to the situation that I saw that one of the individuals was coming on attack position and the other one with a big pump action, firing shotgun, and another person behind with a pistol. So then I just decided to continue my way home. On a certain distance of about 30 yards, the individual just makes signs for me to stop. So, which, for my safety, I just decide to continue my road. And the guy is doing a sign for me to stop, so which I did him to make himself to a side, right? And just a sudden, he get to the middle of the route and fires five shots after my tractor, which one of the bullets might miss me, no? So That's when I had to stop my tractor and for my safety I have my license firearm, which I pull out and point after them. So that's when one of the individuals told me to bring down my firearm, so I told him to make him bring it down first and then I would bring down my one, which they comply and then I bring down my gun and he came close to me and said how we could fix this, which I told him that I don't have to fix nothing with him."
After reporting the incident, Lopez says he was detained for three days and released without charges.
The land is titled to Maya Ranch Limited but the attorney representing these farmers still believes Sherrard has no right to address them.
Bryan Neal, Attorney-at-Law
"I have visited the land, saw a title in the name of Maya Ranch Limited. I don't see an individual owning the title. A company is on record. We are investigating that title as well."
But Neal doesn't believe that warrants Sherrard's treatment of the farmers:
Bryan Neal, Attorney-at-Law
"We have courts of law, we have due process. If anybody claims to have a superior title to this land over my clients, then let us go to court. But to intimidate them, to try to beat them, to try to shoot at them, as in the case of Mr. Lopez, is unacceptable in Belize. We cannot treat people like poor peasants, that their lives don't matter, and you can just shoot at them for a piece of land. That is not Belizean."
Lopez says they have worked the area for years without interruption and invested thousands of dollars into crops and livestock. He rejects the label of squatter.
Dan Lopez, Farmer
"We have to find assistance trying to legalize the land in our name, right? Because many years passed and so we want to, we need a piece of land, right? I'm a person of 36 years and I haven't had a chance to have a land on my name. I have four kids and so we asked for assistance from the Area representative and nothing was dealt. So I have tried in many different ways but no. So what they recommend us is to go through a legal procedure which is through the Supreme Court."
The farmers confirm they submitted multiple land applications through the Lands Department. They say months later they were informed the property is privately owned. Despite this, they said they will not give up until the property is theirs:
Dan Lopez, Farmer
"Well, appeal and keep fighting for the land, but in a legal way and peaceful manner. Yeah, because we know exactly the story, the whole story of that land."
The dispute is now taking a legal turn and the future of these farmers remains up in the air. Jaleeza Roberts, 7 News.
