But what about that alleged encroachment by G.O.B.?
Villagers from both communities have claimed that area rep Oscar Requena is surveying an area with the intention of placing over 500 house lots.
But we reached out to the Minister last night and he's said these claims are false, telling us instead that quote: " Boundary lines for the Machaca reserve were being established, no lots or lands surveyed"
Still, community members are adamant that something is going on in lands that are currently being disputed between Yemeri Grove and Laguna.
Eton Gomez, Treasurer, Yemeri Grove Village Council
"Well what he is doing creating another village into a next village is like he is changing the environment of the village and we people in Yemeri Grove we are peacemakers, we have a lot of American people who live in the village. It is a peaceful village and what we see is that what he is doing to us in Yemeri Grove is unfair, by bringing other Indian people from other villages into Yemeri Grove Village. It's like making two villages into one village."
Monica Coc Magnassen, Deputy Alcalde, Laguna
"As a government Minister and a part of the government he ought to be fully aware of what is required under the CCJ consent order which paragraph 4 of the consent order specifically speaks to that, that you cannot interfere with the use and enjoyment of these lands until, one demarcation is either fully completed, or two, without the free, prior, and informed consent of these communities, the affected communities. So, far this demarcation or alleged demarcation alleged, encroachments going on that ought to have been in consultation with these communities and FPIC, free of prior and informed consent, ought to have been respected, recognized and upheld so it's surprising to me that this was happening. I was not aware of this, as a member of this community. So, this is very, this is news to me. Now I know there was a meeting that I think he had with some community leaders where they were for the
very first time made aware of that but that's not, that wasn't by any means a consultation meeting. It was only, that meeting only came about when the leaders began to query about encroachment on our lands. There was surveying being done by alleged representatives of the government and when we started looking into that, that is when all of this came out that it was in fact the Minister that was behind this, which is truly very disrespectful to us as Laguna villagers because we, prior to that we didn't know anything about this. We still don't so we filed a complaint to the ICJ which as you very well know still has supervisory authority over the Maya land rights decision I believe that to my knowledge and information, we were asked whether we want to recant that complaint which again to me is not acting in good faith."
We also heard from Christina Coc the spokesperson for the MLA who told us quote: " I can assure you that the TAA/MLA is not doing any mapping between Laguna and Yemeri Grove. When we get to that boundary there is a procedure to engage with non maya neighboring villages. The GOB is aware of the delimitation principles and methodology and is aware that the GOB has a role to play to engage non maya villages in understanding the basis of Maya land use and occupation." End quote.
She goes on to call the allegation of communal land "expansionism" in Minister Balderamos's letter "blatant discrimination and mischief making." Coc says, quote: "We have maintained our lands, we know our extent of use, we are not trying to take away or 'grab' what we don't already use and occupy."
