When tradition and legislation clash, which will prevail? For the village of Indian Creek they've made it clear that by customary practices they possess the right to choose and remove their Alcaldes as they please. But the Toledo Alcalde association has challenged this. Jomarie Lanza attended a press conference in Indian Creek today where a power struggle that's playing out in the court has left Indian Creek confused:
Today the residents of Indian Creek village gathered to voice their concerns involving one of their most sacred customs, the selection of a village alcalde. The villagers were unsatisfied with the work of the previous alcalde, and so the community selected another to preside over the village.
But their decision was challenged by the Toledo Alcaldes Association who took the matter to court which issued an interim order restraining the new Alcalde's.
It effectively splits the roles and functions between the previous Alcaldes and the new ones.
It has created confusion among the villagers, and so today they made it known that there can only be two as has been the custom.
Augustine Sam, Resident
"There is a confusion and division caused by the Toledo Alcalde Association, TAA by not respecting the decision made by the village members who consented to the removal of the Alcalde and took the matter to the high court of Belize with just a few against the matter. The office of the attorney general has sent out a letter to reinstate Mr Jose Choc and Mr Felipe Sam which was ordered by the high court of Belize. Members of the community are now confused they know who they elected, and they wish to make the public aware of the interim injunction made by the court is respected but however we know what happened and will keep Mr Manuel Acke and Mr Nicolas Choc as the first and second Alcalde respectively as stipulated by the attorney general's ministry on our behalf."
Anselmo Chulum, Vice treasurer, Indian Creek village council
"I believe the community is not accepting that 4 alcaldes, they want to remain with Nicolas Choc and Manuel Acke because these are the elected officials in our community. And I challenge the TAA. I want to challenge the TAA to bring out the people, the signatures they had collected, bring them like this, bring them like how we have you guys here. Some of them were not here and couldn't come at a public meeting and couldn't come and represent their community. You all wanted a change, you all wanted a new alcalde, you all wanted the benefit of a community and I like what these gentlemen have said they knew it well they are more eligible than the Maya leaders."
"Respect the decision of the community. We don't have finance to get an attorney to go out there and challenge this matter because we could have won. You guys voiced your concern, we want an alcalde. We elect an alcalde, we have an alcalde based on the performance that the previous alcalde was not functioning and was rejecting a lot of development in our community. And I'm not lying to you guys. We have documentation to prove all of this."
The decision to select a new alcalde stems from the communities view that Jose Choc and Felipe Sam - backed by the TAA - were not carrying out their duties effectively within the village. And as a result of this they decided to elect another Alcalde and Deputy alcalde
Manuel Acke, Alcalde Indian Creek
"We are the villagers of the community here in Indian Creek village. We decided who we want to be our leader, not the TLA or the MLA so I send a strong message to these two organizations. We are not with these organizations please we don't want them here again."
Nicolas Choc, Deputy Alcalde
"Before with the former leaders what did they do? Can you explain what they did in this community? Nothing, nothing why do you think we are not ashamed and afraid of what we are speaking about because we sacrificed ourselves to see what the community needs and we tried our best to do for the community and not for individuals but for the community."
Residents are also seemingly flustered by the fact that other associations such as the MLA and TAA had intervened despite knowing what is practiced as customary. One villager further expressed her discontent
Avelina Coc, Resident, Indian Creek
"We don't want no outside entities nor MLA nor TAA to come and tell us what to do in our village this is our villagers decision not the TAA and not Andres Cus and I would like to add why and how comes we removed the past Alcalde of Jose Choc and Felipe Sam because they had done many things they rejected our digital tower they even signed a letter without the consent of the village council and the villagers of Indian Creek. They wrote a letter to the CEO and that same letter bounced back to the village council and there the problem arises and we voiced our concerns that we need a change of the alcalde because he is not doing development and is just rejecting what comes to the village and because we need development in our community and now with our present alcalde the village councils are working together and we are seeing improvement, streets are being fixed and that's what u got to say we will remain with Manuel and Nicolas I demand that to the people of Indian Creek."
