| On Friday night's new we also spoke to Rafael Manzanero about the felling of trees right near to the Caracol road. It's a most disturbing incursion because that is the heart of the archaeological park - and the trees were some of the largest in the area - mostly because prior to this no Guatemalan poacher would have dared go so close to a clear sign of Belize's civil authority. But two weeks ago, they did. The spot is only four miles from the Guatemala border in northern Chiquibul and tonight Rafael Manzanero discusses the seriousness of this incursion in greater detail.
Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director - FCD
"We are looking at over a dozen of trees that were cut in a period of less than 3 weeks. The most aspect of the concern is because it is very close. In fact the trees that were cut less that 2 weeks ago they actually were dropped right over the highway; over the road. We are actually talking about no more than 1.5 miles from the Caracol center."
Jules Vasquez
"Is this one of the most outrageous, in terms of the location - It is right on the side of the road - they don't care."
Rafael Manzanero
"That's correct; I think it's able to show the high level of determination that people would have to go after these trees. But also I think the most frightening scenario is that they certainly know the networks, they certainly know the tourists that are passing through there; they know the time and everything. We would probably agree that it is something that we have to look at it in terms of the visitation security for that zone."
Jules Vasquez
"Will you all realign your patrols?"
Rafael Manzanero
"The problem like in south Chiquibul, I had already elevated it to the highest stake that we had in terms of the losses. I had asked and request the mobilization of the personnel from north to south. If illegal extraction of timber is already absurd and then the illegal gold panning in my scale of environmental damage is even more. Here we are basically trying to maneuver with all of these in the air - which one is the top priority?"
The Ceibo Chico gold panning area is in southern Chiquibul where most of the security forces have to remain deployed due to widespread poaching. And now this event happened in northern Chiquibul which means forces will have to be re-deployed - thus increasing the threat in the south.
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