By Gregory Ch’oc (Q'eqchi')

It was the case of the Mayan communities of Conejo and Santa Cruz versus the Government Of Belize – and the question was: who really owns the combined 15 acres of land in the Toledo District that those communities occupy? A simple question of ownership, but it requires a complex answer, because the case is built upon what is called customary land tenure. That refers to property rights that the Mayans claims to have before the British occupied Belize.

In September SATIIM won a decisive victory over U.S. Capital Energy in the Supreme Court. The victory was not complete, but it was enough to stall seismic testing in the Sarstun Temash National Park and force government to form a ministerial subcommittee to resolve issues between the U.S. Capital Energy concession and SATIIM which manages the park.