He’s an independent candidate for Toledo East and leader of the People’s National Party, and today Will Maheia went on a fact finding mission to the illegal Guatemalan settlement of Santa Rosa. A government release said that the settlers were being relocated today and Maheia set out from dawn to confirm that. He left from Punta Gorda Town at dawn, and made his way to Jalacte and from there unto San Vicente, where he and his team mounted horses for the two hour ride to Santa Rosa. But he never got there; he was turned back by BDF soldiers. He told us what happened.
Will Maheia, Leader - People’s National Party
“We were on our horses. Just before we got to San Vicente a group of BDF approached us and asked us to stop. So we stopped and they asked us what we were doing in the area and we said we were heading to the village of Santa Rosa and they asked for our ID cards. We presented it to them and they said we couldn’t go to Santa Rosa today, it was off limits. They said their instruction from Ladyville was to stop us. We said we were just taking a walk into the area and they said we can’t go anywhere in the area and that they would like us to go back.
I must say the BDF were very gentlemen like and we said we would just hang
around in the area and they said they will just hang around with us. So we stopped for about a half-hour, stopping and looking at scenery and talking and they stood with us and they actually escorted us all the way to the village of Jalacte. We just wanted to verify that indeed these Guatemalans occupiers of Belizean territory would be leaving the Belizean territory.”
Maheia says he plans to go back to ensure that the settlers have been relocated. According to the BDF Commandant Lloyd Gillett, Maheia was most likely removed for his own safety – and he is free to return on Monday. According to the government release, today the first eight families were relocated to their new settlement, 24 miles west of the Belize – Guatemala border in Guatemalan territory. The OAS has informed Belize’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the remaining nine families will be relocated as soon as possible and reiterated their commitment to complete the entire relocation within the shortest possible time. As agreed, as each phase of the relocation process is concluded, the vacant structures within Santa Rosa are being dismantled permanently and no one will be allowed to resettle in the area.
