The temperature on the boundary dispute between Hopkins and Sittee River increased by a few notches today when Hopkins villagers launched a protest in Sittee River with drums and all.
It's a deepening dispute with roots that run way deeper than the mangroves that once lined the coast. Jaleeza Roberts took a deeper look:
This is what the government was hoping to achieve when they decided to host Boundary dispute consultations in Stann Creek over the weekend:
Clifford King - Director Of Local Government
"So under the Village Council Act, particularly Section 3 of the Act, the minister responsible for village and village council has the authority to declare boundaries for villages. And that provision also allows the minister to set up an independent, appoint an independent commission to review, mediate and make recommendations to him on villages, on adjoining villages that have boundary disputes."
"The commission work is to gather data, seek stakeholder input, and then to take all that information to assess it, to analyze it, and use it to make very strong and rational recommendation to the minister about where the boundaries should lie between adjoining villages, if you follow what I'm saying."
This is necessary because Sittee River and Hopkins are still undecided as to where the boundary of separation is and GOB assembled a commission to resolve this issue:
Clifford King - Director of Local Government
"When the commission began its work in October, the commission met with all the village councils, explained the protocol, explained the terms of preference, explained the standing orders, explained what it is intending to do, allowed each of these respective councils to make their substantive claims. Those substantive claims were disclosed to the respective parties. Each party was given a chance to make counter submission. They have all done that. And now we are using the public consultation to give the general public, even though it has been the responsibility of the respective village councils, to engage these people. The commission did not take it for granted that they would. So the commission went out and made sure it got its information."
And at those consultations, various opinions made their way to the forefront from both sides, some constructive and some considered as offensive:
Andrew Castillo - Hopkins Resident
"Listen, just follow the times when there's a claim for those spaces, again like somebody had said it is all economic and I will venture to say that when these immigrants came and settle in those places that is when this contention took place because when Hopkins and Sittee river was staying side by side without immigrants we had no contention whatsoever. As a matter of fact if you're moving to Sittee River what you do is go on that side because you respected those natural boundaries but all of a sudden the immigrants they came and they start to sell the low spaces now we have contention."
Terrence Martinez - Hopkins Resident
"Our people had never had any issues with people from Sittee river. They stayed on their side of the fence and we stayed on our side of the fence and because of economical reasons and whatever it is now we have an issue with boundaries. Are we gonna go through that same thing?"
"Are we gonna stand by and listen to all this and at the end of the day we're gonna lose everything like we lose in Dangriga? No man these things have to stop. I don't have to convince anybody or Mr.Minister that Hopkins is for us"
Dell Morgan - Immigrant
"We received a lot of opinion last night, we received a great deal of emotion but absolutely no facts as to what the history of this is so we as a community can make a fact based opinion or idea of what it's supposed to be so we have nothing to contribute to who should get what, that's not our place"
"Are the people in the disputed area required to vote in Sitee river historically or are they to vote in Hopkins. Cause that says a great deal about what boundaries are because you vote in the community you live in right"
"What are the historical maps of the ratio. The Garifuna claim that they landed on this beach and that the land in that area is theirs I get the script I wasn't here 200 years ago if I remember from the historical photos that I have seen of the development of Sitee point wasn't 99% of that all mangroves? So there was no land for them to have claimed when they landed it's all mangrove. The land wasnt put in place to be claimed by anybody until it was developed so how can you go back and say historically this was ours when there was nothing there for it to be anybody's"
And after that the Hopkins Village Council has since sent out a release saying that it is currently collecting affidavits and supporting documentation for the Hopkins Boundary.
But today, things escalated to another level when Hopkins villagers - who feel offended by some of those remarks at the consultation - decided to do an early morning protest and circle one of the homes of the immigrants living in the area via the river. DYFA radio was live:
It is an ominous escalation in a dispute fueled by different conceptions of community ownership - and also in the background is the Trade License act of 2024, which, once activated, will allow trade and liquor license revenues to stream into the village councils. So what we see on the surface as a cultural divide, may also be an economic divide. Jaleeza Roberts, 7 News.
