October 8, 2014 by Godfrey Smith The Guatemalan Occupation: Dangerous Accommodationism The assassination-style killing of Special Constable Danny Conorquie by Guatemalan invaders on Belizean territory at a marquee destination – the sacred ground of the Caracol Archeological Reserve – in front of tourists who filmed the killing which later went viral has, finally, catapulted the crisis in the Chiquibul Forest to the forefront of public discourse. This is where it should have been a long time ago, except that the government – and the nation – were not paying attention, despite the best efforts of Chiquibul doyen, Rafael Manzanero. He and his team at Friends for Conservation and Development (FCD) have struggled to get the country to understand what’s going on back there. The Guatemalan occupation of the Chiquibul – for that is what it is – is the biggest national security issue the country faces. For most countries of the world, national security concerns are a matter of urgent national importance and, accordingly, receive the necessary budgetary priority and allocations. This is not yet the case in Belize. But it should be. The Chiquibul Forest Reserve, an area four times the size of Barbados, is one of the most important biospheres north of the Amazon and is of massive ecological and economic importance to Belize. Its economic significance is not yet properly understood or appreciated. That armed citizens of a foreign power, which maintains a claim to Belize, are in virtual occupation – by the hundreds – of sovereign and ecologically sensitive Belizean territory should suffice to establish this as the national security concern par excellence. The growing numbers of these invaders should have been enough to get the attention of the government. More, obviously, is required for the political directorate to feel the urgency to drive them back. If the killing of Special Constable Conorquie has sparked the fire of urgency, then his death may not be in vain. The Chiquibul isn’t just any piece of bush. This is a protected area by national legislation that restricts hunting, fishing, logging and all forms of interference with that ecosystem. The renewable, exploitable economic value of natural resources in that area has been conservatively estimated by Dr. Percival Cho, a Belizean forestry expert, to be in the billions of dollars. Its importance as a critical water source for 45% of the Belizean population is incalculable. Its touristic potential as world travellers seek more pristine and unfamiliar spaces is tremendous. And with the staggering diversity of its wildlife, tropical rainforest and caverns, its contribution to global ecology makes it qualified for UNESCO world heritage status. The Guatemalans don’t live in the Chiquibul. They effectively occupy it by making a dense, intersecting network of trails from their multiplicity of bordering villages in Guatemala not far from its southwestern boundary with Belize. These armed campesinos set up camps in Belize and clear and burn pristine protected forests for their milpa farms. They loot Mayan temples for ancient artifacts; they chainsaw and extract valuable timber in a wanton and wasteful manner; they hack and overharvest xate plants for exportation to international flower markets in the developed world; they poach wildlife showing callous indifference for endangered species, pan for gold and poison rivers and streams with mercury and, in general, pollute and contaminate precious water sources and desecrate Belizean forests. The Guatemalans are, on a daily basis, exercising de facto acts of sovereignty over this area. Belize, the sovereign owner, has restricted itself to mounting inadequate and ultimately futile operations periodically, designed to disrupt their illegal activities in the Chiquibul. At best, we succeed in temporarily disrupting their illegal activities. But that is all that it is: a fleeting disruption against a landscape of steady, unrelenting depredation. There has been an embarrassing failure on the part of successive governments of Belize to genuinely prioritize this problem and put together any serious plan to systematically push back Guatemala’s expanding human footprint in Belize. More troubling yet, following the death of Special Constable Conorquie and the subsequent threat by a band of 40 armed Guatemalans to burn Belize’s Valentin Conservation Post near the border, the government’s response has been timorous and its reaction limp. Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington publicly took the view that there was no “proof” that the killers were Guatemalans. Over a week later, having had a chance to reflect on the matter – and in the face of seething public outrage – his position, shockingly, remained much the same. He justified his deplorable Pontius Pilatian passivity by saying he had a “duty” to maintain the good relations with Guatemala, which was at its “best ever”. The Foreign Minister’s position not only echoes with accommodationism, it also displays manifest incompetence and stupidity. First, as a lawyer, he knows that positive identification of a killer is not indispensable to a conviction in any court of law. Circumstantial evidence can secure a conviction. There is sufficient circumstantial evidence to place beyond reasonable doubt that the killers were Guatemalans. Too bad that the Foreign Minister never bothered to ask those persons who have been monitoring, documenting and studying the patterns of the Guatemalan invasion systematically over years – men like Rafael Manzanero who has made protecting the Chiquibul his life’s mission. Secondly, the Foreign Minister’s statement about not upsetting good relations is incomprehensible drivel. Belizeans do not make armed illegal incursions into Guatemala on a daily basis, pillaging the forests, poaching wildlife and shooting at Guatemalan Armed Forces when confronted. The Guatemalans do that to us in protected Belizean territory. There is therefore nothing wrong with summoning the Guatemalan Ambassador to deliver a diplomatic tongue lashing or even to lodge a more genteel Diplomatic Note as a formal protest at the highest levels to Guatemala concerning the well-documented pattern of occupation culminating in the shocking murder of a Belizean security officer at the hands of Guatemalan campesino bandits. Yet this minister took no such diplomatic measure as would be accepted by any diplomat in chief as normal in a situation such as this. Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s own response to the situation suffers from a clear lack of any conviction or vision about what needs to be done. His public response to this crisis has been limited to announcing, grimacingly, that helicopters would be obtained (he later seemed to balk at the $10 million price tag) and, secondly, the scheduled commencement of “Incisive Gallop”, a periodic operation by Belizean security forces to disrupt Guatemalan operations in the Chiquibul. Such statements from our leaders will do nothing to stem the growing occupation of Belizean territory by the Guatemalans. The government must summon the intestinal resolve to lead the nation in urgently devising and implementing a national security plan of action which must involve the Opposition, civil society and the support of all Belizeans to reverse this creeping occupation. The plan should include the following. Firstly, Prime Minister Barrow and at least his minister of national security and foreign minister should become properly acquainted with what the Chiquibul is, what happens there and why it is worth fighting for. This is where George Price was incomparable. He took the view that if his primary responsibility was to exercise sovereignty over a country then he should get to know it first hand. And he did – without a helicopter. Secondly, in the same way a Secretariat was set up to deal with preparations for a stillborn referendum on taking the Belize-Guatemala dispute to the ICJ, so too some kind of unit needs to be established, led by a suitably competent and committed person, to coordinate the various aspects of the plan. Thirdly, the plan itself could consist of the following: collaborating with all appropriate environmental NGOs to build national awareness of the critical situation among all Belizeans. The struggle to preserve our national patrimony will confront us forever so it is fundamental that Belizean children be inculcated with a thorough awareness of the problem. Fourthly, government must provide significant resources, financial and material, to FCD – the pre-eminent and nonpareil authority on and guardian of the Chiquibul – and must assist FCD in identifying and lobbying the appropriate international environmental NGOs for continuous and adequate funding since the level of funding required is not available in Belize on a sustained basis. Fifthly, Belize and its government need to ‘woman up’ and take full and proper responsibility for our own border security. Successive governments have applied millions of taxpayers’ money to politically expedient, quixotic projects such as mortgage forgiveness for delinquent borrowers. Our government must get and take the necessary expert military advice, earmark and spend the funds needed for helicopters and approach our allies the Americans or the British for the necessary help with the training and maintenance required. Sixthly, the government should put some effort and resources into presenting a case to the international community for support in clearing the border for the greater good of preservation of peace and of natural resources of world heritage importance. FCD and its Guatemalan counterpart, Asociaciòn Balam, have engaged in highly commendable cross-border collaboration aimed at raising the awareness of border communities and exploring alternative economic activities in the area. This is the kind of approach that must influence the Government of Belize’s long-term strategy. Taxpayer’s money is perhaps better deployed in protecting our natural resources than in a campaign to go to the ICJ, which the Guatemalans will never agree to.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 16:07:25 +0000
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