Ever since the 13 Mayans of Santa Cruz Village were arraigned at the Punta Gorda Magistrate Court, they and their sympathizers within the communities have been quietly simmering with outrage.
They believe that they were justified in detaining Rupert Myles for building in their village without the permission of their leaders. Moreover, they say that he squatted on land near their Uxbenka Archaeological Site, and destroyed a portion of it when he bulldozed road access to his house. They say that the detention was the very last resort that they wanted to take, but it was Myles' arrogant and allegedly violent attitude toward their concerns which left them with no other choice.
Myles, on the other hand, has asserted that the Chairman of the village, displayed racist attitudes toward his attempts to get a legitimate permit though the communal system to be granted access to the village. He says that the chairman openly offended him by asserting that his common-law wife, who is a Mayan Native of Santa Cruz, would not be welcomed back because she had become the spouse of a Creole man, a non-Mayan.
What followed after, as viewers are well-informed, was that the situation came to a head with Myles' detention, and their subsequent criminal prosecution of his 13 by the police for the charge of
So, since then the Mayan leaders have retired to come up with a collective position on what has happened with the criminal prosecution, and today, they invited the media to the Toledo Village of Golden Stream. 7News was there when Cristina Coc, the spokesperson for the Maya Leaders Alliance, gave her first public statement after being arrested for unlawful imprisonment. Here's what she had to say:
Cristina Coc - Spokesperson, MLA
"To Belizeans who are not Maya, it may appear that we are trying to get something for ourselves, but consider it from another perspective. We are only insisting on what we aleady have and what we already used. If you boiled the entire legal case down to one basic principle, it is "thou shalt not steal." Though shall not steal land from the poor farmer. This is what the Supreme Court said in the simplest of languages. We are powerful people. Why are powerful people in Belize so threatened by our claimed to secure the land that we have always used? The simple answer is this - they have not want to see people who have long been marginalized, be it Maya or non-Maya. They have not want to see us stand for ourselves and refused to allow the continued theft or plunder of our land and resources by the powerful. Not only this. They are trying to set us against each other, by suggesting that respecting the dignity of one group is a violation of another group. That recognizing the rights of one group violated the rights of another. That recognizing the rights on and to one, means that the rest of us cannot get land. That struggling for a secure land tenure is threatening the sovereignty of this nation Belize to the state to the government of Belize. You have not change our rhythm, we will dance even better. Your attacked has renewed our resolve as a Maya people."
As we've told you, Punta Gorda Police conducted a pre-dawn raid in Santa Cruz on June 24 in which they went to arrest the 11 Mayan men who were charged first. That police exercise incensed the villagers who believe that there was no reason for the state to treat them like hardened criminals. There were reports that there were elements of police brutality in that operation, something that the PG Police Commanding officer rejects. One woman was allegedly assaulted by the officers, and at today's press conference, her fellow peer decided to speak up for the other women of the village. She said that the police operation terrorized the wives and children of the 11 men who were arrested:
Rosario Teul - Representing the wives of the Santa Cruz 13
"I want to tell you of my concerned over what happened in my village. Like all Maya women I know that our village have always organized peaceful and welcoming to visitors and the new people: those who have visit us know that this is the truth. We know how to take care of our village, our people and our visitors."
"In the early morning of Wednesday June 24th, we were frightened to hear that our mothers in our community had their husbands and sons dragged out of their sleep by the army/police officers. We want to make it very clear to the government that we are hurt, because our husbands and sons are not criminal. This action of government will not fade away anytime soon. One of our mothers was hurt, stepped on by a police officer and many children were terrorized."
"Our hearts goes deeper when we heard that Ms. Cristina Coc was arrested. You do not hear the voice of the Maya women every day. As a village we ask Ms. Cristina Coc to be present in our meeting. We ask her to come to our community and to be the spoken person for our village. During this time, she did not do anything wrong. Yet by force she was."
So, what's the outcome of all of this? Well, as we've shown you, the Prime Minister is not pleased at all by the actions of the village when they detained Myles. He has made it clear that in his mind, the Mayans have misinterpreted the rights they have been given in the consent order that his government agreed to, when they resolved the appeal at the Caribbean Court of Justice. Well, the Mayans say that the way the state handled the Santa Cruz dispute is a clear indication that the Government is backtracking on its commitments to the court. Their local attorney, Monica Coc-Magusson explained this news application that the legal team has made to the CCJ:
Monica Coc - Magusson - Attorney for the Mayans
"Today we are going to file an application before the Caribbean Court of Justice. This application became necessary due to the government's failure to honor its undertaking under the April 22 consent order. Thus we have to now go back before the Caribbean Court of Justice. The application is asking the court to make clarifications and declarations with respect to that consent order and some of the things that we're asking the court to declare include, 1) to declare that the collective property rights arising from Maya customary land tenure includes the right of the Maya villages to determine pursuant to customary law, who may enter, used and reside in customary lands. Secondly, to declare that the government of Belize has breached paragraph 2 and 4 of the consent order. Paragraph 2, says that the government must adopted affirmative measures to identify and protect the rights of the appellants arising from Maya customary tenure in conformity with the constitutional protection of property and non-discrimination in sections 3,3B,16 and 17 of the Belize constitution. The application is also asking the court to order the government of Belize to pay pecuniary and moral damages to the Maya villages of Santa Cruz, San Isidro and Golden Stream for the government's failure to honor its solemn undertaking under the CCJ order of April 22, 2015."
"Again this application became necessary because the government has failed to protect the communal lands of Santa Cruz from an intruder. Continues to issue logging licenses in the village of Golden Stream as recently as May 2015. Less than a month after the consent order was entered and it continues to allow the surveying of lands for leases in the Maya community of San Isidro."
When that application finally makes it to a hearing, we'll be there to give you all the details accordingly.
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