Two Guatemalan men were caught farming illegally inside the Chiquibul Forest earlier this week. One was detained but the other escaped. FCD rangers were on patrol near an area known as Cohune Ridge in the Chiquibul on Wednesday when they found a couple of men pulling two horses saddled with loads of corn. Upon seeing the park rangers the two men made a run towards the Guatemalan side, however only one managed to escape. 57-year-old Asuncion Garcia, a Guatemalan resident of San Jose, Peten. Garcia was detained and then handed over to police in San Ignacio.
Garcia and his accomplice were spotted approximately 310 meters from the Belize/Guatemala border. The two men were found inside a clearing of about 5 acres used as a corn plantation, next to another 5 acres of freshly slashed and burnt forest. Garcia told authorities that he was being paid 15 quetzales, which is equivalent to $4.50 Belize, per sack of corn that he transported to the village of La Esperanza. Garcia will be charged for illegal entry, operating illegally inside a protected area, and illegal importation of two horses.
FCD says that despite their best efforts, there is clear evidence to show that the illegal agricultural frontier continues to expand in the Chiqiubul Forest.
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