In our last segment, we told you about the joint press release from the Kekchi Council of Belize, the Toledo Maya Cultural Council, and SATIIM. They are publicly calling out the lead personalities of the Maya Leader Alliance and the Toledo Alcaldes Association for purporting to speak on behalf of all 41 Maya communities in the south.
This is after the MLA and TAA harshly criticized the government's Free Prior and Informed Consent Protocol, which has been submitted to the Caribbean Court of Justice as part of the wider push to implement Maya Communal Land Tenure.
Well, SATTIM, the KCB, and the TMCC say that the Julian Cho Society and the Toledo Alcaldes Association have hijacked the Maya Leaders Alliance. They are even questioning just much consultation has been conducted with the Mayan communities to arrive at the public statements shared today.
Just over an hour ago, we got a chance to speak with SATIIM's Executive Director on their public challenge of the MLA and the TAA. Here's what she told us via Zoom:
https://youtu.be/
Of course, the views expressed by SATIIM and the two allied organizations favor the positions shared by the Government of Belize and Greg Cho'c, the Commissioner of the Indigenous People's Affairs. So, since Maya Ch'oc is Greg's daughter, we challenged her on that familial connection, and whether or not the other side can question her credibility on this matter:
This evening, we reached out to Cristina Coc, the Spokesperson for the Toledo Alcaldes Association, for comment on the counterpoints expressed by that trio of organizations, and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs.
Via text, she told us, quote, "MLA was never included in any iteration of the protocol. Only the TAA. And only the TAA is removed. The power struggle is between the state against the Maya governance - TAA. Don't mix the two." End quote.
