Last week Tuesday, the Administrator of National Parks and the Chief Forestry Officer officially waived the expiration date on the permit they granted to US Capital Energy to enter the Sarstoon Temash National Park to conduct oil exploration activities. It's been a week since that decision, but yesterday, SATIIM and the buffer communities of Midway, Conejo, Crique Sarco and Graham Creek, voiced their anger at the Government of Belize for that decision. They've interpreted it to mean that Government is ignoring their Mayan Customary Land Rights. And so they describe the waiver as quote, a "historical trademark of a corrupt, inept, despotic and discriminatory government."
Strong words, and the communities added that the waiver of the permit is an attempt to circumvent past rulings of the court, including the last one from Justice Michelle Arana delivered on April 3.
Greg Ch'oc, the Executive Director of SATIIM, wrote to the Prime Minister last week Thursday, asking him to reconsider the waiver. He called it an act bad faith in negotiating with the Buffer Zone Communities. Ch'oc wrote that Government has expressed their intentions to comply with the orders of the court in trying to consult with the communities to get consent. He notes, however, that it is impossible for the consultation to be truly effective while allowing the company to operate as it has been doing, which, in his view, flies in the face of the judgement from Justice Arana.
Ch'oc ends his letter by strongly urging Prime Minister Dean Barrow to reconsider the waiver and the government interpretation of the judgement from Justice Arana, which he describes as grossly inaccurate.
So, while SATIIM and those communities are condemning the Government and US Capital, the fact of the matter is that there are villages in the Buffer Zone who are sympathetic to the oil company. The economics of that decision seems to be very simple; poverty is widespread, opportunities are few and US Capital is giving them employment.
In the Village of Barranco however, apart from economics, there are also a cultural and historical components at play which three villagers explained to us:
Villager - Barranco
"When they come we have jobs for at least 6 months and they would lay us off and then Satiim as a representative of the buffer zone around here - we are not getting anything from Satiim. I support Gregory Ch'oc with the fighting for the Maya people. One thing that I didn't like about him not mentioning Barranco in his... he talks about indigenous, but all of us in this area are indigenous."
Villager - Barranco
"The only time that we see Gregory Ch'oc around is when US Capital is looking to do something. If US Capital says that they will move out, Gregory Ch'oc and Satiim would get out of the place."
Villager - Sunday Wood
"They say that Sunday Wood is with them, but Sunday Wood is not with them. They are using the name. We are not negotiating with Satiim. We are negotiating with the government and US Capital."
Sunday Wood Village and their First Alcalde, Pedro Ba, have openly declared their support of US Capital Energy for the assistance they've received in improving their village.
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