Succotz Chairman Demands the Return of Cancha

Tonight, we head to Succotz Village, where the chairman is making one brave demand, give the village cancha back to the people. Back in 2020, residents were frustrated. Their community center, the beloved cancha, was falling apart, abandoned and left to ruin. Several years later, the government stepped in, renovated the building, and turned it into a welcome center for visitors and tour guides. Some folks celebrated the facelift, calling it progress. But others are not happy. They say the building should remain a public space for the community, not a tourist hub. Village Chairman Armando Ventura Cocom says he was never told how the cancha became a welcome center in the first place. And now, he’s demanding answers and action.

 

On the Phone: Armando Ventura Cocom, Chairman. Succotz Village

“I cannot explain until details about how was it get to get done because I haven’t gotten no information from the previous administration, like how you mentioned they had, they didn’t hand over none of those, and that was brought to our concern as villagers also for the village, that nothing was handover about that.”

 

Britney Gordon

“Are you guys able to use the welcome center for any sort of public events now or is it completely restricted?”

 

On the Phone: Armando Ventura Cocom

“It’s completely restricted. It’s, you have to pay for use. You have to pay for the use, and, which I haven’t even have access to it being the chairman of the village. The purpose of it building it, it was like for the village to the villagers to get access to it. I guess yes, you have to pay a rent or something for that, but then not as normal, right? Like how they’re doing, put it like just for them managed by a committee. It should be returned back to the public. That’s right. That’s a hundred percent right. And that’s what I’m trying to do with everything that they have tampered. The politician, they have tempered it. Even the UDP and PUP, so we need to stop that. That’s why I’m in charge now and that’s why the people elect me to do those changes to bring back what is for us for the villagers, because those lands belong to us and everything is for us, the villager. I’m fighting for the villagers. I’m not fighting for myself. I’m fighting for them, for us, because all of those things have been happening years back and years back.”

 

So, will the cancha return to the people, or stay as a welcome center?