On Friday night, we brought you mayor of Belmopan City Anthony Chanona's apology and his proposed solution to the squatting situation in the outskirts of Belmopan. Tonight, as promised, we bring you the squatters' response. As could have been expected, the proposed move to Mount Pleasant does not sit well with the residents and they told the Mayor and Alfonso Noble as much on Friday afternoon.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Surrounded by residents of the area, Mayor of Belmopan City Anthony Chanona outlined the city's 7 point plan of action which intends to relocate any and all squatters in the periphery of Belmopan.
Alfonso Noble,
Why can’t you give this land in specific that has already been settled and is closer to town they are infrastructure some infrastructure in place and that kind of thing. Why not this land specifically?
Tony Chanona, Belmopan Mayor
“Because it’s not in keeping with our master plan.”
Alfonso Noble,
Is the land sold or something like that?
Tony Chanona, Belmopan Mayor
“No it is not sold. It is not in keeping with our master plan. Our master plan is to develop residential parcels with full infrastructure before we take on any new subdivision.”
And that master plan does not include the squatters who'll be moved when access roads are put in place at the Mount Pleasant area a few miles outside of Belmopan city. It’s the council’s plan, but for the Mayas, it is untenable because it will again disenfranchise and distance them from the benefits that they came here for in the first place.
“Over that side it will be like starting over. We won’t have the same things like what we have here.”
Alfonso Noble,
Do you think you have the capacity to start over again?
“Well that is very hard. Why can’t we get this piece of land that we are already living on? We have our house there and so why can’t we get that. We have our crops and everything set up. There are many children over this side and so we need a hospital and we need our school. And if we move down to Mount Pleasant it actually has no school and no hospital so how can we get our groceries and that’s very far to the back. To me we shouldn’t move because the people that already applied for a piece of land why can’t they get a piece of land.”
Alfonso Noble,
So you wouldn’t move to Mount Pleasant even if they put in the access roads and they put in infrastructure for you to put your crops and your house and everything?
“If we get that and water yes we will move.”
Alfonso Noble,
What about school?
“Yes that’s the other thing. If they put school there it will be much better and a clinic that side.”
“I am willing to go there but I need transportation for my kids everyday because they are attending school.”
Tony Chanona, Belmopan Mayor
“But we can’t promise transportation.”
“Will there be a school there?
Tony Chanona, Belmopan Mayor
“There will be no school.”
“How will we live there?”
Tony Chanona, Belmopan Mayor
“How are all the people living in Maya Mopan coping with that?”
“I could answer that. Yes because you could catch the bus right there. I have four kids that are attending school and the hospital how will I go there when I live far and my babies are sick? How will I reach there?”
Alfonso Noble,
These people are poor some of the most poorest in our country they can’t afford it the argument might be.
Tony Chanona, Belmopan Mayor
“That is why we need to travel south. My government speaks to social justice. We will travel south. This might be a national problem that requires a national policy or a revisiting of that policy. The only way we are going to find out is to sit down unemotionally, devoid of politics, and speak to an issue that has national important to the people of this country.”
But Chanona is not the first and will certainly not be the last to look for those answers in the south. But for the time being, his stance remains: no more squatting and that's final.
Tony Chanona, Belmopan Mayor
“We are in an austerity mode and I won’t speak to that until I am definite it will happen. But its important, there will be no dismantling and pushing out of persons until we have a place for them to go.”
Alfonso Noble,
While there might not be any dismantling there might be new erections.
Tony Chanona, Belmopan Mayor
“No. Any new development will be dismantled forthwith.”
So the message was clear, while the squatters will not be moved immediately, they will be moved - allowing them land for subsistence farming in the Mount Pleasant area outside of Belmopan. It’s left to be seen if this gesture will quell the fiery passions of ethnic friction that this controversy has stirred.
There is no set timeline for the move to Mount Pleasant but a survey will be carried out to ensure that there is documentation of those presently in the area to ensure that there are no new squatters moving in.