The land was earmarked for the construction of Caye Caulker's first fully outfitted Police Station, but that project is now in limbo. Construction paused, and the property was rumored to be on the block to be sold off, leaving residents with deep seated suspicion that their village property is being monetized for other purposes.
What will happen to the proposed police station, which sits on prime beachfront property? Jomarie Lanza headed to the island today to find out more from a peaceful protest. Here's what the villagers are saying.
The villagers came out in numbers for a peaceful protest in the heart of Caye Caulker, demanding answers for what was supposed to be the construction of a new police station. That project has been halted and the land is rumored to be up for sale.
And now the villagers won't rest until they know all the details:
Seleny Villanueva Pott, Chairperson, Caye Caulker village council
"We want answers we are simply not sure of what is going on."
"We don't know the truth behind the rumors and we have to say it is rumors because we don't know if the property was sold or not and truly all we want is to be engaged. We want to know if it is still ours we are hoping that it still is but we would have like if our are rep or minister of police would have engaged us in some type of discussion I mean we didn't have to get here. But we are not getting answers and our community demands answers and if we can't give it to them then they need to give us some sort of explanation as to what is going on we have all right to know this is our island. Those properties are public spaces they belong to the people of Caye caulker so we really need to know what is going on."
Caye Caulker Police have since been functioning from a temporary base located in the Bahia area - one that the chairlady says is too small and ill suited for them.
She told us since the project signing occurred in January they haven't had contact with the project managers and were simply told that in a year the station would have been built. But since then they haven't gotten any progress update.
Seleny Villanueva Pott, Chairperson, Caye Caulker village council
"We had a meeting with CABEI and a couple of the police department representatives and we were told that the project is in full swing and everything should be ready and completed in a year. So when we saw that the project was halted that was alarming to us and then you know we started to ask questions you know we started to hear rumors and that was when we started to get inquisitive. My deputy heard something and where she heard it from was very credible so that is what sounded the alarm but we really didn't know anything until I believe last week Wednesday and that was when we started to move but we demand to know what is going on with our public spaces."
The villagers say they won't be bullied and won't stay quiet until they find out what's going on.
Samira Martinez, Caye Caulker Resident
"We are aware that there is some kind of fishy activity happening and we are just here to protest the fact that Caye Caulker will not take it lying down and we are not going to get bullied into losing our prime land."
"No the community was not consulted and it was something that the village council had been monitoring over the Easter break and you know all of this just kind of spilt out after the fact and now everyone is very upset and everyone is very enraged as they should be because you know I agree with them and how can you stop a construction that was meant for you know Island security it is something that we are fighting for and it is something our minister promised us and now look at what happened."
And they aren't convinced either that this property isn't worth a rumored 5 million dollar price tag, unless it's of interest to the right person
Barry Maynes, Caye Caulker Resident
"That plot is not worth 5 million dollars it is worth about 1 and a half to 2 million dollars where does the other 3 million go?"
Jo-
"Are you certain that being out here today will send a strong message to them."
Barry Maynes, Caye Caulker Resident
"I would love to say yes to that but I am not sure, I believe if somebody is getting 3 million dollars for their efforts would they be put off by people protesting or would they just carry on and take part of the jewel that is here and take it away from the community."
Gabriel Zetina, UDP Senator
"So you know truly I want the same thing that the residents of Caye Caulker want because if this land was given to the Belize police department to build for the police in fact of they went and acquired a loan to build this police station then what happened along the process and why weren't the people consulted?"
Reporter
"Do you really think that property is worth 5 million dollars?"
Gabriel Zetina, UDP Senator
"I am a real estate agent as well and you know it depends who is buying it because it might have value to them but not to someone to else."
And to whom is the question - and today's protest makes it that much harder for any discussed sale to go through.
The village council says it is prepared to go to court if necessary. We must stress that as of Friday, when we checked the land had not been transferred and remains in the government's name.
