Last Friday, we brought you extensive coverage of the public dispute over the next stage of the implementation of Maya Communal Land Rights. It's the battle over the Free Prior Informed Consent Protocol (FPIC). Right now, the debate is raging about whether or not the government is going far enough to protect what will eventually be recognized as Maya Communal Lands at the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The Maya Leaders Alliance, the Toledo Alcaldes Association, and the Julian Cho Society have accused the Briceno Government of ambushing indigenous Maya Belizeans with their FPIC document.
Some of the most outspoken personalities in the ongoing struggle for Maya Land Rights have insisted that the government is attempting to erode the progress that has been earned through protracted legal battles on this topic. As we told you, they are aggrieved by the interchangeable use of the words "consent", which they insist the 2015 CCJ judgment mandates, and "consultation", which is a lower threshold of responsibility on the government.
Today, the Commissioner of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, Greg Ch'oc and his Minister hosted an extended press conference to take on many of the tough questions from the media on this thorny topic. Daniel Ortiz reports:
Cristina Coc - Spokesperson, MLA/TAA
"We are very saddened that even while they have a Commissioner of Indigenous People's Affairs, a person who understands the Maya Communities -is from a Maya Community himself, despite that, there is still a concerted effort to plant seeds of division among our people, and to break up the collective institution that provides the strength and the unity that has carried this movement for 30 LONG years."
Although she didn't mention a name, Spokesperson Cristina Coc was criticizing Greg Ch'oc for failing to properly defend the rights of his people, the Maya of Southern Belize.
But, on the face of it, such a characterization seems almost outlandish, especially because some 15 or so years ago, he became well-known in Belize as a firebrand activist, who engaged in a public crusade to get previous government administrations to start respecting the rights of the Maya.
He once convinced the Belizean press to go trudging through waist-deep muddy water inside the Sarstoon Temash National Park, just to make a point that if there was an oil spill at the exploration sight for US Capital Energy, the surrounding wetland would suffer catastrophic environmental harm.
We basically barged into a heavily secured location of Temash #2 without the proper permissions, which seemed to upset the lawmen.
Gregory Ch'oc - Executive Director, SATIM
"This is Maya traditional land, and what we have here today begins the restriction to contain the movement of our people on our own land. That cannot be countenanced. I refuse to have government and anybody else tell me what door I should enter my house."
But now that he's part of the Government that is supposed to craft the rule book for harmonious engagement with the Maya, has he abandoned those core values that made him one of their most well-known champions?
Greg Ch'oc - Commissioner, Indigenous Peoples Affairs
"I am confident that the FPIC that we have presented protects the consent of the Maya people by protecting the dissent. They have a right to say no."
So, what about the complaints that somehow, this current draft of the Free Prior Informed Consent Protocol (FPIC) has eroded the progress that the Maya have achieved with the 2015 Consent order? Detractors have characterized it as an attempt to reduce the Government's threshold of responsibility from consent to enter Maya traditional lands, to a simple consultation.
Cristina Coc - Spokesperson, MLA/TAA
"Ultimately consent should what should be sought, not just consultation. You can't just come talk to us and tell us what you are going to do on our lands. You have to come with the understanding that you are coming to ask for our permission, our approval and we set the conditions for those, if we decide to give it."
Greg Ch'oc - Commissioner, Indigenous Peoples Affairs
"What was in this document when we got it, it was a consent proposal, a consent protocol and as what Justice Witt says words matter. It gives the impression that the community must give its consent and that's not what international law says. A community may dissent and we have taken those into account here, we've not called it consent protocol, because the community will probably get the impression that they have to consent, no matter what. But that's not what international law provides for. There is an option for dissent. If consent is withheld by the village, then it cannot proceed. The administrative action cannot proceed."
And as to the complaints from the Maya Leader Alliance, the Toledo Alcaldes Association, and the Julian Cho Society that he and the Government ambushed the Maya on this FPIC protocol, Ch'oc says that's far from the truth. In fact, he and the Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs exhibited several documents that demonstrate the extensive back and forth communication:
Greg Ch'oc - Commissioner, Indigenous Peoples Affairs
"I believe in consultation. I have demanded consultation from the government of Belize when I was in the Maya leader's alliance, when I was at SATIIM. I have demanded the right of the Maya people to free prior and informed consent. I pursue the work of the government anchoring the work on consultation that I demanded. I would not be here before you if we had not consulted extensively all the Mayan organizations."
Hon. Dolores Balderamos-Garcia - Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs
"The government of Belize has a duty and a responsibility to be inclusive and while we are responsible for the implementation and we have our duties and responsibilities an individual organization or leaders, if they called themselves leaders, we will not be dictated to."
This afternoon, the Garifuna Nation, an organization that has started to agitate for Garifuna indigenous rights, sent out a press release in support of the MLA and the TAA's public position on this topic.
They say, quote, "The Garifuna Nation of Belize Stands in solidarity with the Maya on the matter of the "first consultation" protocol... We... stand side by side with our Maya Brothers and sisters in their objections to the announced approval of a protocol by Belize Cabinet without first consulting Maya and Garifuna. It is a slap in the face of our human rights..." End quote.
