Email

Print

Today, we got a chance to visit it for ourselves for the first time, and Daniel Ortiz has put together the most comprehensive look at the dispute so far. Here's his story:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
This "keep out" sign marks where the public road ends, and where Michael Modiri's land starts. Currently, it's also the quickest access which makes the trip to the Dark Night Cave System possible from Belize City's Harbour all the way to this Cayo South tourist getaway.

So, locked behind the Modiri blockade lies a picturesque nature trail, complete with exploration of the different parts of the Cave system. There's ziplining, and cave tubing, and the great outdoors here in the Belizean jungles. All of these make for a perfect package for those adventure tourists who come from all across the world, and undoubtedly, the earnings potential from the tourist traffic is visible.

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"One would look at this and say why are these two white man fighting over bush."

Jerome Crawford - Director, Crew Security & Executive Escorts
"Well, this is a very beautiful place. It have some beautiful trail. It have a lot of caves that you could go into and explore and some of the caves even have pottery work still in them and you could do bird watching, maybe you could get some wildlife pictures while you are here. You could go rafting on the creeks. I mean people from all over the world pays lots of money just to come to Belize and do this stuff. I think that's where the problem is. Maybe one party got greedy and didn't want this stuff to work out. But in value, you can't put monetary value on a piece of property like this. It's a real beautiful place and me and my guys went through it for a few days and even us that lives here, find it to be very beautiful and we appreciate beauty and nature when we are back here."

The problem is that the two international landowners cannot seem to get along in a neighborly fashion.

Modiri says that Bradley Paumen has refused to stop trespassing on his land to bring his guests to this getaway. He hired Jerome Crawford as his chief security to stop anyone from coming here. He says that he is happy that everything has been quiet so far, and except for a dispute a couple weeks ago, there has been no head-on confrontation from Paumen's employees trying to force their way unto Modiri's property:

Jerome Crawford
"So far it's been good. We had no problem. Only the first day they blocked us at the bridge coming in and didn't want us to pass on a public road. But since that day everything got cleared up so far."

So, while the final destination is contentious and rife with controversy, the journey here is also cause for quarrel. Normally, tourists - or anyone for that matter - travel along the George Price Highway, and then down this recently paved Franks Eddy Road. Instead of going to Nohoch Che'en, they take this dirt road which takes less than 5 minutes to travel. Here, they arrive to this bridge, which sort of acts like the first checkpoint. Arriving here, you've now entered Bradley Paumen's Dark Night Tour Company compound. Normally, on a ship day like today, the tourists would congregate here first.

Modiri claims that Paumen has been stopping him from getting to his property by putting up a blockade here. Notice that the sign says that it has been acquired for public use, one of those acquisitions for a public purpose that the Government has become recently well known for.

File: November 3, 2016
Michael Modiri - In Land Dispute With Paumen
"3-4 years ago everything was getting ready to hit the ground and start. He blocked the gate, they came in, they couldn't get access and we couldn't get back to my land and since then he has blocked me. Access became available only through court orders."

So, the next leg of the journey continues down this road which all public can access, about 7 minutes more of driving. Residents say that it has been here for years, long before either Modiri or Paumen came into the picture.

Ricardo Peraza - Tour Guide, Franks Eddy
"That road was open for logging from the 80's and I could recall I use to work at Jaguar Paw when Jaguar Paw opened in 1994. We use to run tours in all those places and nobody stop us. We consult with forestry department and we consulted with NICH and they give us the okay to go. Once you are certified, nobody could stop you. From long time that road had been there. Afterwards when Tropical Dream comes, then they sold the land and Mr. Paumen bought it and things started to happen. We didn't have any problems. This was brought to me some months ago since I am the president of the lands committee."

But, the next checkpoint in the journey is where all the problems happen. The public road ends right at this "keep out" sign where Modiri's land begins. Keep clearly in mind that it was an extension of that road which Paumen built after the Barrow Administration acquired Modiri's land under the guise of "public purpose". The Supreme Court reversed that acquisition and gave it back to Modiri because the judge concluded that the Ministry of Natural Resources improperly acquired it. So, he has all rights to do as he pleases, such as to keep people out. And, in this case Paumen's employees, residents from Franks Eddy Village, and local tour guides who depend on these Dark Night tours are feeling the pain of this standoff.

File: November 4, 2016
Bradley Paumen - In Land Dispute With Modiri
"I don't like the public eye. That's why you don't get to see me very often, but I do have the best people in the country working for my company and the last year, if Dark Night bleeds, I bleed and they bleed, you know and they bled a lot. To me that are what makes Belize very special? We got waterfalls, we got caves, we got the second largest barrier reef in the world, but it's the people, the good people here it's what great about Belize and I got some of the best. We want some compassion here. We are asking the government for some compassion for these good people. They kids need, their families need the money. If you got a good job here and got a good job for a while, maybe you don't realize it, but it's hard to get a good job. It's hard to find a job that you love, you know. And you get that job and somebody takes that job away from you, your livelihood away from you and you see your family suffers - your kids can't get an education, you can't take care of your parents, whatever. Those people are suffering for no reason. This is an easy fix. This road been here for 20 years. Now I know there's been some legal matters and it looks pretty bad. But the reality is if some of this information would have been available earlier, things would have been different. How the minister of works declared it a public road. It fits all the credentials. Let's get it done."

But Modiri says, he's a reasonable individual who would allow Paumen to resume his tour guide activities if he would only pay some sort of rental fees for use, inclusive of the court 300 thousand dollar court award.

File: November 3, 2016
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Persons who know nothing of the history between you and Mr. Bradley Paumen would look at that and take the interpretation that you're doing this out of spite, out of just badmindness."

Michael Modiri, In Dispute With Bradley Paumen
"Well it's intended to stop unlawful access. Respect the law, honour the agreement that he made with me, his attorney and my attorney met and we came up with an agreement that he's not honouring. If I was malicious I would say okay I'll block the gate, it will take me six months to build my own operation and in that six months you're dead, I won't let you in; but that's not the position I've taken. I said you're welcome to use it, keep your employees, keep the tours going but pay your rent."

But, while that dispute simmers, hardworking tour guides and residents will keep on losing out on money making days like today for an indefinite period. That could lead to desperation, and eventually, confrontation to see the tour business return:

Jerome Crawford
"The sad part is the tour guides and the rest of people that work in the company that they are the ones losing out on these days, because 3 days' work - 1 week, that could mean a lot of money for them and I could understand needing work and putting food on the table for a family. So my heart goes out to them and I hope that they understand the nature of what is happening and I would advise them to try to both sides of the story and not listen to one side and try to go and take things into their own hands. I understand the desperation of needing to put food on your kids table, but just stay out of our way. We are cool so far. Whatever they have between themselves is out of our hands. So I would hope that the workers just leave it be and hopefully it could be settled in a matter of days."

Today was a ship day, and the Dark Night Compound would have normally received cruise guests. But, as you are aware, the security team is currently preventing anyone from entering Modiri's land. It is uncertain how Jerome Crawford's absence from his security post will affect the Modiri blockade.