We also got a comment from Cayo Northeast area representative Orlando Habet. He concedes that it's a difficult situation but agrees that they are on private land. Additionally, he believes squatting needs to be stopped sooner than later.
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
"It's a difficult situation just because if you are a land owner and you are a private land owner, you certainly don't want people to go squat and take over your land. So I'm not certain exactly what's the relationship with, Julian and the land itself, but I think he's like a caretaker for for for the owners. And then these people have been going into this area and squatting, and I belief that you don't squat and build overnight. It takes years. So why is it that you don't take them out from the very beginning? I recall when the mayor of Belmopan said that they had to take down the house that was being built in, been and in Belmopan proper. How do you pass there everyday and you don't see it and then you want to bulldoze the house."
"You have to do it from the very beginning. But also, I think the farmers or people need to be educated not only in that area, but, I don't know, a country that when you go to apply for a parcel of land, I think they do. They give you a receipt saying that you applied and it hasn't any number."
"Saying that you have an application. But that doesn't mean to say that you have a red coat in the land, don't have a lease, you don't have a permission to sort of be on the thing. And I my understanding is that many of these persons did that and they got, an application receipt, a receipt for the third say that you applied and that's it."
Property manager Julian Sherrard sent a letter to the Government of Belize giving them the opportunity to purchase the land to distribute to the farmers. The Ministry of Natural Resources has expressed no interest in that.
