And now Requena will have to be a part of consultation with the Maya and non Maya communities, even while the Mayas have expressed their dissatisfaction and concern with his appointment. Meanwhile, the non Mayas weren't happy with Greg Choc, who they believed was biased.
It's potentially a roadblock in an already long and arduous process, but today, the Minister said that the government isn't looking to please everyone. The Mayas already rejected the draft proposal, but Balderamos Garcia reiterated again, they cannot take the entirety of Toledo.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Indigenous Peoples' Affairs
"Our Senior Counsel Mr Marshalleck along with Samantha Matute, the assistant solicitor general, we have gone back and looked at the gender policy and made a few adjustments in terms of what is being proposed because if you will recall, some of the Maya communities and leaders were saying that they didn't like the section five, which gives you, to begin with, a concentric circle of a kilometer or two or three going out in terms of radius. They weren't too happy with that but I believe there was a misconception there. We were not saying to the Maya communities, this is all the land you are going to get. What we were saying is that is your starting point without you having to prove use and occupation. Now if you want to go further than the three kilometers radius, which is actually six kilometers in diameter, then you have to prove use and occupation. Because you see, the government is not on one side of the other side, the government has to be an arbiter and the government has to ensure fairness and responsibility to all the people of belize, not just the Maya people and because we have said, that the Maya people, as much respect we have for every indigenous group and every Belizean, the Maya people would not be able to own the whole of the Toledo District so government has to be an arbiter and to place certain limits. Now one of the proposals in the policy is that if you wish to claim as communal land more than the two or three kilometers radius then you would have to prove use and occupations for at least 30 years. Now, some of them don't want to hear that, but unfortunately the government is not in a position to please only one person or a set of people, we have to create a balancing act and I can tell you that Mr Requena will be reaching out to the non-maya communities as well, Jacintoville, Yemeri Grove, Barranco, these are areas that we really have to look at. So I am pleased, we are waiting to hear from the legal advisor for the MLA grouping by the end of April and then we will be reporting back to the Caribbean Court of Justice."
