"Honor your signed agreements" that's what the powerful indigenous lobby from southern Belize has told the Government of Belize.
Last week, the Ministry of Natural resources made it official in a press release that it had permitted U.S. capital energy to conduct seismic testing in the Sarstun Temash National Park which is co-managed by the Ministry and SATIIM, the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM).
A statement issued by SATIIM reports that last night community leaders and protected area managers met to support its position. The statement explains that those in the meeting took a unanimous decision to file an injunction to block any and all petroleum exploration activities in the national park.
And while that is a new judicial dimension, the dispute also has a political dimension. Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister tired to personally intervene with the indigenous leadership to smooth over some edges that may have been ruffled by the offhanded treatment and unilateral strategy pursued by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The feeling in Belmopan is that Natural Resource Minister John Briceno in Belmopan showed insufficient regard for the politics of the situation, and that misjudgment could prove costly in political terms and the tone of the dispute was taken up a notch this evening when SATIIM's Executive Director Greg Choq circulated to the media a letter a letter he sent to Briceno.
It accuses him squarely of duplicity in his public comments about SATIIM, "we ask that you stop saying things that give a false of wrong impression about SATIIM's involvement in the government's decision to allow testing inside the park." It continues by outlining unanswered questions about the seismic testing in the national park, and states that Briceno or his functionaries have not responded formally or substantially to any of SATIIM's questions.
The letter ends on a stinging note. It says: "thus far, all we have gotten is from you your words which most people have difficulty accepting these days." That puts the ball rather squarely in the Minister's court, and he has told us he will seek to dialogue with SATIIM, which may be a little late considering the organization's now stated position on Briceno's words.
