But there are several divisive issues threatening that vision of unity, including the Santa Cruz incident in which Rupert Myles was detained by an angry mob of villagers. The Maya residents of the village say Myles destroyed their sacred Uxbenka monument by constructing a driveway leading to his house. And then there’s also the court fight between Jalacte residents and the Government of Belize over communal land rights. The Program Coordinator of the Maya Leaders Alliance and Toldeo Alcalde Association Pablo Mes told us that he hopes this conference will bring them closer to solving these conflicts.

Pablo Mes - Programme Coordinator, Maya Leader Alliance
"I'm hoping that this forum will allow for us to be able to see with clarity that there are issues which we will have to develop a process to address immediately and there are processes which are more of a long term more of a broader engagement so being be able to perhaps go out of this meeting with some ideas as to how we might be able to put in place plans to address those two areas. You mentioned Jalacte, Santa Cruz, those are just two of the cases that we wanted nothing other than to sit down and settle these matters."