A historic action was filed in the Supreme Court this morning: the Mayan communities of Conejo and Santa Cruz in the Toledo District are asking the Supreme Court to force the government of Belize to recognize Maya customary land right. Those customary rights refer to lands for which the Mayans have no formal title, but claim as communal property that they have occupied from a time before land was administered by a title system.
It's called indigenous ownership and it's a thorny matter for any modern government, and even more so for one already at odds with Mayan communities over an oil concession granted within their national park.
So today, Greg Choq, the Mayan Leaders Alliance - known as the MLA - and hundreds of Mayans from Toledo descended with numbers on the country's judicial center in Belize City to demonstrate that this time they are posing a serious challenge to government's system of land administration. Our 7NEWS team followed events all morning and we have everything from the images to the issues.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
They came by the busload, six to be exact, into the heart of Belize City - blocking traffic in the crush of morning traffic. Most of these folks, families really, had been traveling since two or three on the morning from countless communities in the south namely Conejo and Santa Cruz, Pueblo Viejo, Santa Elena, San Jose, San Antonio, Midway, Sundaywod, Crique Carco, Aguacata, Blue Creek and Santa Ana.
They came here into Belize City into the Battlefield Park before the Supreme Court before the Tony Soberanis Bust to invoke the name of their own heroes like Julian Cho and their own slogans for their own struggle. They stood before the high court as their lawyers were inside, making a filing in their names.
And after taking that stand in front of the high court, they marched unto the streets, heading to the Radisson Fort George for a press conference. About 300 strong, they walked over the Swing Bridge carrying placards of protest, and Belizean flags; some with infants two at a time, some barefooted, and some carrying candles.
An unusual show in the middle of the morning in the heart of the city, and as by-standers could be heard shouting support. At the front, an elder from Santa Cruz carried a Mayehak - a copal incense used for spiritual ceremonies, the smoke and the fire they believe invokes blessings from their Gods. When they reached the Radisson on Cork Street, the Mayehak was left to burn out on the street.
And they crowded into the Radisson Villa Wing up the elevators and trooping up the stairs. They gathered in the Caracol Room - renting a space that carries a name freely appropriated from their own culture. In there it was standing room only.
And while they waited an hour for the press conference to start as lawyers were still filing the constitutional motion, they were entertained by marimba players from Pueblo Viejo. When the press conference did start - the leaders of the villages and the MLA made it clear what they are fighting for and who they are fighting against.
Christina Coc, Julian Cho Society "The central fundamental issue in this lawsuit who should own the land in these rural indigenous villages, who should have authority over the natural resources. Is it the local people who have always lived there or the government that claims to own the land but has only from our perspective, the perspective of the indigenous Mayan people, just recently arrived. We feel, to put it plainly, that the land is ours because we have lived there since before the government was there including the British Colonial government."
And pre conquest land rights has been a tough issue for government to come to terms with - even when the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights - an arm of the OAS - chastened government in 2004.
James Anaya, Professor - University of Arizona
"This international institution has already found that the Mayan people of Belize own and have property rights to the lands they traditionally use and occupy and has found that the government of Belize has violated those rights."
Christina Coc,
"The government has not even publicly acknowledged that they lost this case. I repeat, the government has not even acknowledged that they were found to be violating our human rights. That is why we have had to push forward and go back to the Supreme Court."
James Anaya,
"And now it will be up to the courts, it will up to the Supreme Court of Belize to respond to the pleas of the Maya people, to determine if indeed the constitution of Belize includes the Maya people as equals and respects their rights to property."
Antonette Moore, Attorney
"What we've asked for is for the courts to declare that the Mayan peoples have title to the lands that they have traditionally occupied and used, that's within a certain boundary, that they themselves have determined. And then we've also asked that the court declare, which would have a force of law, to declare that in fact those rights to the land constitutes property as property is determined in the constitution."
And they hope the court will compel government to respect those communal lands. Today as the chairmen and alcaldes from Conejo and Santa Cruz explained in Mopan and Q'uechi, the abuses of land rights they have witnessed.
Basilio Teul, Chairman - Santa Cruz Village
[Translation] "One of the main purpose of the lawsuit is for government to recognize that we the Maya people who are the original owners of the land, before the Spaniards came and the English came, have rights to the land we live. But what the government is doing is not recognizing this. Instead they are selling out the land."
Manuel Cal, Chairman of Conejo
[Translation] "One of the reasons we are here, especially for the villagers of Toledo, is to show that we are not satisfied in how the government is especially issuing land. Land to people who do not even belong to the communities."
Martin Chen - Chairman - Toledo Alcaldes Association
"We want the government of Belize to respect the rights of the Mayan people. We are not asking for special rights or consideration. We are simply asking the government to respect our ownership of village land based on our long standing use and occupancy of land as directed by the constitution of Belize."
Aurelio Cal, Alcalde - Santa Cruz
{Translation] "We're not only struggling for the rights of Maya people but struggle for land is the plight of poor people. It is not only the Maya people but most of us who are poor. It would seem that land is easily given to those who have the money to pay for it. Those of us who are poor are pushed aside."
And that was a repeated refrain: that the Mayan's struggle is in fact the struggle of all poor and oppressed peoples in Belize.
Greg Choq, Mayan Rights Activist
"You learn a little bit more about what the violation of human rights mean when you are moved off or denied access to the land which your people have occupied for thousands of years so a multinational oil company can drill and you are not given a say or a cent. Or when you are living on land that the government insists it owns just because your proof of ownership is not accepted by the same government."
Christina Coc,
"We are fighting for the rights of all Belizeans. I repeat, we are fighting for the rights of all Belizeans. So if anyone tells you that the Maya are just out for themselves, please tell that's not true. Those people have rights just like you and me and I support my fellow brothers and sisters when they stand up for someday I may need to stand up against our government too. And if and when that day comes, Belizeans should know the Maya have your back."
And having the Maya's back today were PNP leader will Maheia - whose party is based in the south and unionist Christine Perriot. And the Maya Leaders Alliance will need all the help it can get, because Choq is taking on the big guns.
Greg Choq,
"We must act as it has become evident, as they like the darkness, that our political directorates have abandoned their fiduciary responsibilities and instead continue to cement their partnership with the neo-liberal capitalists. Our challenge in these times and ages threatens the status quo enjoyed by the neo-liberal imperialists and their homegrown connivers."
And the leaders make it clear, that for them that status quo is protected on both sides of the political color bar.
Christina Coc,
"Our lawsuit may seem like a new thing or a political thing but it is really an old, old struggle that is not political. Everyone remembers ten years ago when my brother in law, the late Julian Cho, fought against the previous government, a UDP government you will remember. So we have struggled for our rights with the red and with the blue."
And one of the principal positions of the status quo is that surrendering land rights will lead to a homeland, which will lead to.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister
[February, 2004] "I will not preside over the balkanization of Belize. I will not create a homeland just for Maya or a homeland for Garifuna or a homeland just for Creole. All of Belize belongs to all of Belizeans."
Greg Choq,
"That is the response of a politician, not a statesman. It is a very simplistic way of looking at the fundamental human rights and dignity of people anywhere."
James Anaya,
"Governments across the world are turning away from this, as Greg described it, simplistic position that says we can't allow for such land distribution or balkanization. Governments across the world and courts across the world, I might add, are turning away from that position and acknowledging that in fact it is consistent with democratic values."
So now, the march against the status quo - say Choq and Coc - is irreversible.
Greg Choq,
"Today we walked and marched and made a solemn pledge that march we will march on. There is no turning back. And to this journey I call each and every one of you for I know that you share our dreams of our inclusive, tolerant, and plural society."
Christina Coc,
"Although this lawsuit is a new step for us, it is a part of a long chain of struggle that stretches back long ago, before I was born and this claim will continue until our rights are respected and the Maya have won our rights to land in Toledo."
To bolster their case, the Mayan Leaders Alliance and their attorney are pointing to the ten point agreement that the Musa administration signed with the Maya leaders in 2000 in which government agreed that, "Maya people have rights to lands in southern Belize based on their longstanding use and occupancy."