Last night we told you about Guatemalan Loggers in the Chiquibul Forest who opened fire on The Chiquibul Forest Joint Enforcement Unit, a 7 person law enforcement team comprising Forestry/BDF/Police and Friends for Conservation and Development Rangers.
They found a group of loggers 6.8 kilometers into Belizean territory - which is marked with the red square on this map. The location is 2.5 miles north of the Caracol Site and 300 meters form the main road going to Caracol.
As we reported, on Wednesday afternoon the joint patrol discovered a pair of illegal Guatemalan Loggers, who were using chainsaws to cut mahogany trees and had already sectioned off 56 pieces of mahogany and cedar to take back to Guatemala.
Whilst the Belize law enforcement team was speaking to two illegal loggers, a child of about 8 or 9 years shouted "NEGRITO" - a second after they heard that voice, gun shots were fired at the law enforcement team from the bushes. The BSF Soldiers returned fire and the two loggers and the child then dashed towards some other men that were in the bushes and escaped under the thick cover of the forest.
One Guatemalan did not escape: he is Jairo Orlando Ariel Mejia Motta who was injured with a graze to the right hand - though it's not known if that is from a BDF bullet or one of the loggers. He was taken to the San Ignacio Police station where - he was charged for Forestry violations and remanded to prison.
But according to Rafael Manzanero, the Director for the Friends for Conservation and Development which co-manages the Chiquibul National park and cave system - the problem has gotten so vast that illegal Guatemalan loggers have what he calls a zone of influence covering 55,000 acres from the northern tip to southern tip of Chiquibul. That area is demarcated by the shaded blue line you see on the map. But now, they have moved even beyond that - as yesterday's incident is East of that blue border - so he says the zone of influence now exceeds those fifty five thousand acres.
And it's not only affecting the timber resources, another important development is the poaching of macaws. Of nine nests the FCD had been monitoring, 8 have been lost due to huge trees being chopped down, dislodging the macaw's nests. The FCD even reports a case where they have seen that a macaw was eaten.
According to Manzanero, the problem is deepening, but it is also complex as the trade in illegal timber is robust and well organized in Guatemala. He says interventions will be have to be made at diplomatic, technical and conservation levels to deal with it.
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