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Here's the message that they had for policy-makers:..

Protesters
"Bring back the Rosewood! Rosewood for Toledo! Rosewood is a part of Belize."

Jules Vasquez reporting
Chanting, "Bring back the Rosewood", about 60 residents of villages in the Toledo district marched on Independence Hill in Belmopan this morning.

They come representing places like Otoxha, San Benito Poite, Indian Creek Medina Bank and others villages where the prized hardwood is like hard currency:

Carol Choc - Rosewood Purchaser
"Right now in Toledo, that's our only form of income. The people, all of us here - we have the cutters, from the one that hauls it, the one that sells - we have everybody here. And right now, in Toledo, we have a lot of Rosewood that is already cut and need to be sold. We have money invested. It's not only me. We have people - this is income and a job for the people. We don't have a lot of jobs. The population in Toledo is so big, only a quarter of the population has a job. So this Rosewood creates for the people in the community."

Jules Vasquez
"How much of your income does the earnings from Rosewood represent?"

Santiago Acal - Rosewood Cutter, Indian Creek 1st Alcalde
"Well, actually it's due to the buyers. They usually pay us like $4 a square-foot."

Reporter
"Do you have Rosewood on the ground that you have cut already and that needs to be brought out?"

Santiago Acal
"Yes, we have numbers."

Jules Vasquez
"How much numbers?"

Santiago Acal
"Actually, like in my village, I have about close to 8,000 to 10,000 feet already cut, and we need to - you know?"

Jules Vasquez
"And you sell that for $4.50 a square foot."

That's about forty five thousand dollars - that he says he can't sell. Silvestre Choc is a middleman, and he says he is a lot deeper in the hole:

Sylvester Choc - Rosewood Purchaser
"What happened, in the past, before the election, I got a buyer by the name, Mr. Kent, a Chinese man from Free Zone. He used to buy for a long term. So, I really invested my money and borrow from the bank because I got the farmers cutting Rosewood, and we buy and sell. I am the buyer, Mr. Rodwell Williams and I. The two of us work for the same company. So, what exactly happened is that I invested my money and borrowed from the Bank of Nova Scotia a loan of $45,000, and I am now stuck with the Rosewood. I can't sell it. The moratorium came right away. They didn't tell us - they are already stamped, but I can't sell them."

Jules Vasquez
"So, how many feet do you have in your yard?"

Sylvestre Choc
"40,000 feet - my solution is that I just want to get rid of it, and if they stop the Rosewood, it would be better for me. The people are too troublesome to work with, and if I can't sell it, I will lose. I will have to look for a job then. Maybe, I will have to go steal."

And while he may be overstating it - there was a genuine sentiment in this crowd,

Beatrice Bo - Crique Sarco Rosewood Purchaser
"Right now, we have to protest. Why? It's because we really need to sell our Rosewood."

Jules Vasquez
"How much Rosewood do you have right now on the ground in your yard?"

Beatrice Bo
"I can't say how much totally on the ground, but I'm here to represent the people of Crique Sarco, Sunday Wood, Conejo, Midway, Corazon, Otoxha, Dolores, and up all the way through those villages."

Jules Vasquez
"Are all of them making money from Rosewood?"

Beatrice Bo
"All of these people, all of our people are making a little money off of the Rosewood."

Jules Vasquez
"But you agree with me that the Rosewood is in limited supply. It wouldn't last forever anyway. It's already winding down right now."

Beatrice Bo
"We know that it is, but for right now, we are making our living off of it."

Jules Vasquez
"Yes, but eventually, you won't be able to make anything off of it, because they are going to cut down everything."

Beatrice Bo
"Well, for right now, we are in need of it."

Jules Vasquez
"But you agree that the Rosewood won't last forever, it is not an inexhaustible resource."

Carol Choc
"Exactly, I know, but if we leave it there, somebody else will come and get it again. Right now, it's the village people who are working on this. But if we leave this somebody will come and get it. We understand that everything doesn't last forever, but if we don't get it, somebody will definitely come."

"If we back off of it, then somebody else will come, maybe a white man. I am not criticizing, but this is for the people of Toledo. We don't have jobs here."

Remi Cho - Her Family Buys Rosewood
"That little money from the Rosewood helps the people to buy their sugar, their coffee, to help their children to go to school - it does a lot. The money is there to help the people to get along."

Jules Vasquez
"Yes, but the Rosewood can't last forever."

Remi Cho
"I know but, right now we have the Rosewood in stock, that's the only thing we can do to help us. We know that the Rosewood will stop, but at least the Rosewood that we have now, that we cut, we want to sell it, because that is our loss."

And while these people were protecting their own interests and perhaps, larger, special interests - they say it's not political interests:

Carol Choc
"This is not politics. The people out here that you see are people that cut Rosewood, buy Rosewood, and sell Rosewood. This is not politics; this has nothing to do with politics."

But in the end everything is political - and this simmering controversy was brought to Belmopan, the cradle of government to send a message to the new Minister of Forestry to see if she will soften her position on a full out moratorium.

And there's good news for those Rosewood traders and cutters. Chief Forestry Officer Wilber Sabido told us this evening that all the moratorium is trying to do is give some stability to the volume of Rosewood that is already on the ground. Specifically, the Forestry Department wants the cutting to stop so that they can make a proper assessment of what is standing, what has been cut and what is presently on the ground. After that is done, those who have Rosewood on the ground - like many you saw in that story - will have that legitimized by the Department and they will be allowed to sell it.

He says, that if the cutting does not stop - they will never reach a fixed state - so the main idea right now is just to get it to stop so that a sound assessment can be made.

The Forestry and the Supplies Departments have also had to assess 10 containers of Rosewood that are at Customs awaiting export. These containers are being exported by Kambokin Enterprises Ltd and that company's representatives have told the customs department that their export licenses were issued before the moratorium was declared on Friday March 16th.

Sabido confirmed that the containers have been jointly inspected to confirm that all is in order and they have been stamped, released and licensed. And, today, the containers were released and cleared for export - but they are still being held as customs is awaiting official documentation to send them off.

We note that the moratorium announcement said it was effective immediately, but not retroactively.

Indeed, a Cabinet press release issued about a half hour ago says that at the inaugural meeting of the new Cabinet today, the ministers endorsed the moratorium on the harvesting and exportation of Rosewood.

It adds though, that The Ministry of Forestry will take into consideration those with valid licenses who may have already cut trees with a view to exporting the lumber.

A search on the internet for KAMBOKIN enterprises turns up that it is an overseas shipping company based in San Andres Corozal and exports to Asia and the USA. The site indicates that it specializes in exporting hardwoods.