Belize used to have a political border, but now she has what the diplomats call an adjacency zone and tonight, we assure you, somewhere in Western Belize, Guatemalan Xateros are all up in that zone stealing the highly prized leaf from Belizean territory, and smuggling it into Guatemala for sale on the international market.

By all indication, Xate incursions are at a high. In fact, the latest information says that Guatemalan Xateros have systematically and completely cleared 23 kilometers of all Xate plants into Belizean territory within the Chiquibul forest reserve. That is until a month ago when BDF, police and forestry officers launched an aggressive campaign to halt any further advance. Alfonso Noble was on jungle patrol deep in the Chiquibul with the BDF last week, and here's what he found out.

Alfonso Noble Reporting, [Email - alfnoble@yahoo.com]
Over the past month a multi-agency operation in the Chiquibul national forest has been mounted to intercept this: the illegal harvesting of Xate leaves.

Lt. Col. Ruel Black, Commander 1st Infantry Battalion
"The security sector of the country noticed that the Guatemalan Xateros have been operating within Belize for quite a number of time now and they presently are working or operating in an area of almost 1,000 kilometers or around 600 square miles. When you think of Belize having just 12,000 square kilometers, they are operating in 1/12 of the country and this is an effort to stem the operation within the national reserves, the Chiquibul Forest Reserve, the Colombia Forest Reserve, and the nature parks. This operation is aimed at stemming the day operations and eventually eliminating it from the country."

And the BDF is ready and up to the task; it has dispatched an entire company to the field. But even that might not be enough because the illegal extraction of Xate is an almost insurmountable problem.

Evidence of the activity in the area is everywhere from small candy wrappers to the intricate, well trafficked trails that criss-cross the expanse of the Chiquibul forest. The BDF must now try and contain what is a thriving, highly profitable but illicit industry. A formidable task and it means setting up camp where activity is most heavy.

Capt. Daniel Mendez, H Company Commander
"We have here out Hotel Company which is deployed for about 7 days. We are targeting the areas of the Chiquibul Forest Reserve, especially the areas north of Las Cuevas and the in the areas of the Raspaculo Branch of the Macal River. We are targeting Xateros activities specifically."

Lt. Ian Cuna, H Company
"We are staying out here stationary in this exact location and we have two other platoons neighboring us, to our east, and if any Xatero should come in our direction then we basically hold them in place here until they get extracted out to the police station. At this location here, one of our neighbor platoon has captured one person up this point and we at our locations we have captured three horses and two men had run away from us, and about a kilometer down south yesterday evening another section had captured…again the person ran away and the horse stayed with about two large bags of Xate. So as they transport themselves with their supplies, as in horses and food, then we incept them around this location."

Alfonso Noble,
Would you say this is a major route for them?

Lt. Ian Cuna,
"It may be one of the most frequented route. I don't know if it is the most frequently used. It is frequently used but I don't know how it compares with all the other routes around but it is used."

And it is being used because just the day before one Xatero was captured. Large bundles of Xate have been confiscated, horses and saddles have also been taken and there are intense moments in the jungle like the one corporal Florenci Choc had, having to set chase after a Xatero.

Cpl Florencio Choc,
"He found out about something suspicious. He left the horse about 10 meters back and he came slowly to check it out. When the man pulled the string he knew something was here. We followed him on the main track thinking he would have run across but he never did."

Capt. Daniel Mendez,
"Over the past month we have observed several camps and we have arrested approximately 8 Xateros and held 12 persons. Hotel Company in particular has destroyed three xatero camps and arrested one xatero and detained 4 horses. What we have seen is that there is a very large well-developed network of major tracks. There is a major Xatero operation happening which involves several stages: the cutting, transportation back into Guatemala, and just a very large, very well funded operation. The Xatero themselves travel for approximately 10 hours from their home in order to get here to cut Xate. They are willing to run the risk of being arrested and being caught. But most of the times they run away from us, its very difficult to catch them because they have the advantage of knowing the jungle and the area much better than we do. But in general they are willing to run the risk of being arrested. Their operation is normally approximately about 3 to 5 days. This involves arriving here from their home in Guatemala. They spend three to four days cutting Xate, putting it into bundles, and then last day is spent transporting it back into Guatemala on horses."

Alfonso Noble,
How much Xate is being extracted?

Capt. Daniel Mendez,
"I don't have the figure for that. I don't know but from the activity we have seen its quite a large area and we have seen lots of activity in this area."

This activity is now putting strains on the protected forest and Black says it is detrimental to the environment.

Lt. Col. Ruel Black,
"Their presence also destabilizes the…it affects the tourism industry, it affects all the operations within the national reserve, and there should be no harvesting of products and hunting of wildlife within the national reserves. When they come here they harvest the Xate and they've virtually eliminated Xate from the border to almost 20 kilometers in. Now they're presently building a ford over the Raspaculo River to go deeper into the Chiquibl Forest Reserve which I'm told by the Forestry Department, there has been no human activity in that for many many years. The first human activity there was a xatero and they actually built a ford to cross the river. So they doing a lot of damage. They are leaving a lot of tracks in the national park, they do leave their rubbish, and they also hunt wildlife at will."

And that will now simply not be tolerated turning this beautiful palm, that makes magnificent bouquets like this one into Belize's most protected vegetation.

The BDF will continue efforts in the Chiquibul Area for an indefinite time but the army is limited because so much manpower resources are presently deployed in Belize City.