Boston Village Fights Back Against Illegal Logging

Illegal logging, political pressure, and a community fighting back; things are getting tense in Boston Village. Chairman Nikolai Alvarado says loggers have been cutting down trees without proper permits, and when he tried to stop them with police support, a phone call to a government minister may have changed everything. Now, villagers are demanding answers and action, as they uncover abandoned equipment and illegal activity deep in the forest. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the story.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

In Boston Village, chairman Nikolai Alvarado is putting the spotlight on illegal logging and pointing fingers at two government ministers. Alvarado says he teamed up with police officers on Thursday evening to confront loggers operating in the Salt Creek Estate area. But just as things were heating up, the loggers made a phone call to Orange Walk South Area Representative Jose Mai. Alvarado claims that call may have stopped police from taking action.

 

Nikolai Alvarado, Chairman, Boston Village

“I got the three police and the police told them, you cannot move nothing from here. So the Mennonite got the phone and he called his boss, his boos called ministers in the north and they called the police them to stand down. The police officers said we will not stand down, we are doing our job.”

 

Paul Lopez

“The minister in the north?”

 

Nickoli Alvarado

“Certain ministers, the boss of the police, because when the police answered the phone, the police said yes boss. The minister identified himself as the boss.”

 

Paul Lopez

“How did you ascertain that it was a minister on the phone?”

 

Nickoli Alvarado

“Because I told the officer to let me talk to the guy and I addressed him and I knew who it was and I said, look, these guys are doing illegal logging, they are here in Salt Creek Estate. They don’t have any permits to log here. The officers are doing their job. They are out here in the mosquito getting bite at night. The phone was hung up and the officers said we will do our job, even if we have to lose our job or get redirected, we will get the job done.”

 

Alvarado isn’t just calling out illegal logging, he’s naming names. He says the “police boss” involved is Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa. So, we reached out to both Musa and Orange Walk South Area Representative Jose Mai to get their side of the story. Mai took our call and here’s what he had to say about Alvarado’s claims.

 

On the Phone: Jose Mai, Area Rep, Orange Walks South

“So when they called, I think, Minister Musa was along with me, so he asked to speak to the police to get clarity on the matter. At no point minister Musa told the officer to stand down, what he said was this is a matter for forestry to deal with. We are not there, we don’t know what the situation is with this matter. So he called for clarity and then he said I think to the police, that is a matter for the police to deal with and forestry went out there to deal with, but nobody asked the police to stand down, that is not true. I was Minister Musa at the time.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Why did they call you.”

 

Jose Mai

“The guys who have the concession are from my community, so they called me I think. I said, I don’t know of the police is there, Minister Musa can speak to them and get clarity on the matter.”

 

Loggers say bad weather kept them from clearing out logwood before their concession expired in July, but Chairman Alvarado wasn’t convinced. After he threatened to bring in the media, forestry officials and police showed up to investigate. They found a logging truck abandoned at the entrance and hidden in the nearby bushes, another piece of heavy-duty equipment tucked under the forest canopy.

 

Nickoli Alvarado

“About three months ago, it came to our attention that there is mud on the highway. So from the time there is mud on the highway, we know that there is people doing illegal logging around here, so my self, my dad and a couple of the workers form the park came with the ATVs, we came back here. We did not make it too far, because the ATVs got a stick inside of it and we couldn’t go. The Mennonite guys came back and met with us and I asked them, do you have a concession, they said yes. So I showed them my GPS map and said you are not in Lucky Strike, this is Boston Village and there is no log you could log, because you took it out years ago. I told them there is nothing else you can log. They said they got approval from the minister. I said, well nothing else is here, you cannot take nothing from Boston. I told him, you guys think you smart. I know why you got that concession for this side, the only place that has logs is Salt Creek Estate, that is a big position all along the coast from Sand Hill to Bomba, that is where we are right now.”

 

Alvarado, joined by forestry officers, pushed deeper into the logging trail, and what they found confirmed villagers’ suspicions. The loggers were working outside their concession boundaries. On site, a forest officer began stamping and seizing the illegal logwood. Former Chairman Efrain Leal was furious and now, villagers want the proceeds from those logs to benefit the community.

 

Efrain Leal, Resident, Boston Village

“Most of animals, the gibnut, live off the seeds of these trees, the Mahagany, the Santa Maria, the parrot come in and eat all of these things and they come in and take all of the reserve and then when we need something to build something, cause sometimes you find village want to cut a tree down and make a little hog pen, nothing exist because these guys come in, cut everything and carry it. You see these small logs, the forestry is cow footing these logs. I am not a forest officers but if you are cow footing, you do not crowfoot the head and tail, because me could come with my saw, cut off that and cut off that.”

 

Villagers are concerned that if the logwood goes back into the hands of the government it may end up right back with the loggers that cut them down. We will continue to follow. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.