body,td,th { font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; }
But, a lot of time is not available on the ground - that's because the situation is evolving in real time. Just look at what happened between the neighboring villages of Laguna and Yemeri 11 days ago. That was a flashpoint of ethnic tensions and the Deputy Prime Minister said he looked into it on his southern swing:
Cordel Hyde Deputy Prime Minister
"Again, those people have to talk to each other. I had the benefit of meeting with the folks from Yemeri Saturday night. Very engaging meeting. You know, I think they have to talk. Ultimately, I feel that the solution may be in just freezing status quoe and then establishing a no go zone on both sides. Nobody goes in that area where we have confusion, where we have dispute and try to work through that process. If you have a situation where every other week or every time somebody gets an itch, they go and mess around in these areas. Eventually it's going to get funny. Eventually, something is going to happen. Eventually, somebody is going to react badly and we don't want that."
"This communities have been neighbors for the longest time. In fact, there is there is all kind of engagements going on. So we have to go back to that. We have to go back to the things that unite us and try to work through the issues."
Jules Vasquez:
"So when people are fighting over properties sir, land."
Cordel Hyde Deputy Prime Minister
"We still have. Yes, I know people get really hairy over these things, but we have to try. And so it is incumbent on government to maintain the moral authority in these negotiations to not take sides. So, like, there are a bunch of intelligent, a bunch of intense, a bunch of patriotic Belizeans in these communities. And that's the job we have, man. That's what we signed up for."
Reporter:
"Any concerns that it seems they have might escalate to something violent?"
Cordel Hyde Deputy Prime Minister
"Well, that's why we have to engage, that's why we keep talking like like we just need patience. We just have to sit down with these people and talk it through talk it through. We can figure it out. Right. Because to determine who's right and who's wrong. It can get messy. And this, and like Jules says, it's a land and these communities that are not Mayan communal territories."
"These folks in these areas are deathly scared of the fact that they won't have any land for their children in these communities where they grew up, in this district where they grew up."
