And today we asked the area rep for Cayo North about it. Michel Chebat says that this is just political mischief - especially since the current council is UDP led. He has inquired about it from the Lands Department but says that their main goal is to get land in the hands of first time owners.
Hon. Michel Chebat - Area Rep., Cayo North
"I understand there's a bit of a protest out there, I understand that it is some UDP operatives that are heading this. I have asked Lands Department to check into it to see what the situation is and I'm getting some information from them but I want to say this, as part of PlanBelize, we're on record saying that we're going to try to give as much first time land owners a piece of land and so I have approached the Lands Department and I have asked them, particularly to find land that is available in the village for us to give land that is available to first time land owners, if this is part of that process then I'm happy to associate myself with this process."
Courtney Menzies
"So even if the land was previously reserved for community use, you'd prefer to separate it and give it to residents?"
Hon. Michel Chebat
"Well, we feel that it is important to have recreational centers, as a matter of fact, we have just undergone putting in new lights in the football field in Bullet Tree, we're in the process of starting to renovate the basketball court, which is very close to this location and so the kids will have access, I'll tell you this, it is important to look back in what has happened in this area, there's a lot of land grabbing going on in this area, a lot of squatting, and so the Lands Department has really had to go in to clean up things that are happening down there and the previous administration, we saw where, the school, the land that was there for a school, was actually de-reserved and sold to a private entity, you understand? PlanBelize is a different approach, PlanBelize is to make sure we get homes and lands into the hands of first time homeowners and single mothers."
Courtney Menzies
"Shouldn't the government have checked with Lands to see if the land was reserved before beginning to survey it?"
Hon. Michel Chebat
"I am sure that the Lands Department does all of that assessment before they do anything, that has to be part of their process, I'm sure that is part of the process."
We asked the UDP Caretaker, Omar Figueroa for comment about this land dilemma. In a text, he said, quote, "Bullet Tree Falls is one of the larger villages in this country. As the village continues to expand, these reserve areas will become increasingly important it is clear that a healthy community needs these reserve spaces. Unfortunately, there seems to be a habit of preserving these public spaces for selfish political gains." End quote.
He goes on to say that he knows of cases in Bullet Tree, Shawville, Carlos Habet Layout and Boiton areas where reserve lands were issued to individuals rather than being used for the community. Figueroa says plainly that it is wrong to subdivide reserve land and that it will negatively impact the community in the long term.
