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Toledo Alcaldeā€™s Vs. Lisel Alamilla
posted (May 16, 2016)
Last week, we told you how the Toledo Alcalde's Association complained about the DPP's Office for multiples adjournments of the criminal case against the Santa Cruz 13, now the Santa Cruz 11. Well tonight, they're complaining about Lisel Alamilla, the government appointed Chair of the Toledo Maya Land Rights Commission.

The Maya Land Rights Commission is the body set up by the Government to implement the CCJ judgment on communal land rights for the 39 Mayan villages in the south. Commission Chair Lisel Alamilla was scheduled to meet with representatives of 9 of the villages today along with a member of the Maya Steering Committee.

Now, according to the TAA this steering committee is made up of 21 persons who were chosen through a democratic process to represent all the villages in negotiations with the Government.

They say that the Commission omitted key persons from today's meeting. So, they showed up to voice their concerns directly, but they say that Alamilla refused to grant them an audience, and then called the police to remove them from the office. They say that they've been "dissed" by the Commission for simply trying to ensure that everything about their interactions with the Commission is transparent and above board.

Well, we've checked for the other side of the story, and what we learned is that indeed Alamilla did ask them to leave. The reason for that, sources tell us, is that Alamilla was waiting for the 9 villages to show up for this morning's meeting, and they were very late. After the representatives did show up, that's when Cal approached her wanting an audience. By that time the meeting was already delayed, and so she denied them the audience. When they pressed for it, she insisted that they leave and come back after scheduling a proper meeting.

So, it appears somewhat of a trivial quarrel, but we understand that after these leaders left, today's meeting with the 9 did see some progress. Timelines were agreed to for when the Commission could visit with the villagers of the 8 out 9 communities.

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