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But, a supreme court judgement may re-cast a large part of the dispute over private and communal land rights in Toledo.
Civil appeal 32 of 2021 which - deals with a private land dispute in the Toledo District - was handed down on the 29th September. It sees appeals court justice Bulkan say that " just as Maya Communal rights are constitutionally protected... so too are the proprietary interests of all other landowners in Belize."
The judgement makes it clear that private landowners rights still stand in the face of communal land rights. The. Minister today told us it was the first time he's hearing of it:
Jules Vasquez:
"The judge of the Court of Appeal made some very important determinations as it deals with private property vis a vis communal property and the rights of private property holders to not suffer expropriation in those communities where they are also coexisting communal land rights. Are you aware of this judgment and how do we how do we factor that in along with everything else that's being done regarding the consent order?"
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister
"That's the real animal to battle with. I'm not aware of the judgment, but I'm aware that that is a real big contention there. You have in excess of 8000 at least that's a figure I heard you have in excess of 8000 private landowners, third party landowners. So to speak, in, in the communal land area now."
"Yeah. There's a rule in or a belief that all these lands, whether privately owned or not, really belong to communal lands, really belong to the communities. The law allows for you to acquire land legally, but as you know, you must compensate those landowners. So if we see the lands are for the communities and it's all communal land and you see you want to make those land stay in the hands of the third party landowners, then who's going you're going to have to compensate the communal landowners."
"And if you see that you want the lands to go back to the communities, then who's going to compensate the third party landowners? You're talking about a lot of a lot of a lot of money. There's no easy solution, man."
Jules Vasquez:
"What the judge said was that the embargo on certain land transactions obviously cannot extend on to private lands as those are constitutionally protected from expropriation. He also says that private lands enjoy the same constitution, protection as Maya communal property and thus are not captured by the embargo in the consent order or by standard extinguishment principles. So that means that private landowners in Toledo can rest at ease then, even if their land falls within communal areas, is that?"
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister
"Well it sounds like that. But, you know, these things have multiple interpretations. But so ultimately, if the feeling is that all these lands originally, that the communities are entitled to these lands, then they will come knocking on our doors as to where it is, where are the competition for those lands?"
We'll have more on this important judgement tomorrow. The government was represented by Crown Counsel Agassi Finnegan.
