One week ago, when Minister Landy Habet's driver drove unto the Quewell farm in Santa Familia, it made news. Felix Quewell said they were trespassing on his property - and that they also cut down his fence.
Speaking with him today at the Las Cuevas research station in the far reaches of the Chiquibul Forest, Habet says he was just trying to find land for his constituents:
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
"I think what happened was they cut a wire just to cross over so that the survey could go from one side to the next. The Quewell's were wrong because the land that was sought was not the Quewell's land, it was the neighbor's land."
"And the neighbor apparently had, according to him, been squatting on this land, according to him, for some time, like many other people do. And so he had some development on a portion of the land, but I guess it is about 40% that was being used."
"The other 60% is unused. So I have constituents, as I have mentioned before, I have about 6,800 voters, and then I have many more constituents than that. And people come to you every day looking for a parcel of land."
"And in this case, these two young men wanted a parcel of land and I tried to accommodate them. They got a sketch or diagram from the lands department saying that the land was vacant. There was no application on the land, and that's why we recommended."
In an earlier interview Habet said he had scolded his driver for acting wrongly.
