Belama Residents Lose Hope as Key Access Road Turns Private

Remember the Hangar story we brought you last month? Residents in Caribbean Shores wanted that spot turned into private property, claiming it was all about public safety and protecting the coastline. But not everyone agreed, saying Belizeans should have full access. Well tonight, we’re seeing the flip side of that debate in Belama Phase Three. Residents there are up in arms over the privatization of El Celaso Street. They say the land was sold off, even after government and the Lands Department promised it would become a public street, giving them much-needed access in and out of the area. So, what’s really going on? News Five’s Britney Gordon has the details.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Take a look at this map, it’s Belama Phase Three. You’ll see three key streets: Marciana Fuenes, Vernon Leslie Crescent, and El Celaso Lane. Together, they’re supposed to make getting in and out of the neighborhood easy. But El Celaso Lane has been off-limits for years, despite repeated promises from the government. And now, residents have learned the land is private property. That revelation has crushed hopes of ever turning it into a public road.

 

Sergio Alaya, Belama Land Owner

“The street, El Celaso  lane has been taken away from us and we are here to take our stands to. Try to make sure that the street comes true because it is something that is very needed. Everybody says they have an issue, including me when I come, I have to reverse or turn in my yard. I don’t have a house, so I can do that. But if you have a house in your yard, you cannot do that. So that’s the biggest issue.”

 

 

 

According to residents, the land was sold in 2020 under the UDP administration, the same government that reassured them that the road would soon be opened. That’s created a major access problem, drivers now have to cut through private yards just to get out of the neighborhood, and residents aren’t happy about it. Derick Valencia has been living in the community for nearly a decade and has maintained El Celaso lane land for just as long, He says, when he first moved, he was told that land was not for sale but continued to clean for the benefit of the community.

 

 

 

Derick Valencia, Belama Resident

“ When I get to land’s department, the woman told me and she say, this is a street. How can you come apply for a street? So after she told me this, okay, I understood. So I went back to work. So since that day, so I have been maintaining the land and since 2017, cleaning the land and I believe like 2020, somebody come and survey the land while they survey the land, I asked the person, Hey, I don’t want to call name. I asked the person hey, why you survey that land that is the street?”

 

 

The land may have been sold under a previous administration, but residents want this government to step in. They say the property went for as little as a thousand dollars—and if government won’t buy it back, they’re ready to do it themselves. P.U.P. Freetown Chair Albert Vaughan says the issue just came to his attention and, from what he knows, the sale didn’t follow proper protocol.

 

 

 

 

Albert Vaughn, Chairperson, P.U.P. Freetown

“I get to understand that was in 2020. October of 2020. If you can recall, the election was November. And so I was not aware. I have been a member of the Belize City Council from 2018, I served in the city council. In my mind is I’ve never bought to the city council because what would normally happen if somebody wants to purchase the street, then that request would come from Lands for us  to have a no objection. And once the council to say that we have no objection with it, then that process continue. If the council say, we have objection, then that process don’t go forward. That, in my mind have noy happened at the city council.”

 

 

Across the neighborhood, residents have posted several flyers and billboards condemning the sale of El Celaso Lane. That stands in stark contrast to the cluster of private property signs now posted throughout the area. Valencia explains that the issue does not lie with the owners of the land, it is the system that facilitated the sale.

 

Derick Valencia

“I’m telling you the truth, because the street is small. It’s not like wide as supposed to. That’s why his name is Leslie Crescent, Crescent means. So if land tell me, they told me that was the street, why didn’t they tell that person that was the street too? They have preference. And to this I tell you, you conscious man, we need the street. We need the street. We are not here to fight nobody. I’m not here to fight no person because just like this person applied for it, anybody could have applied for it too. So it’s not the person that we are fighting, it’s the system that they have in Belize.”

 

 

Now, residents have signed a petition, calling on the government to repurchase the land and open the road. Vaughn says that the next steps will be to discuss with Area Representative Francis Fonseca and the lands department what can be done to assist the community.

 

Albert Vaughn

“The residents are putting out a petition. We have to look at their petition and we have to take that petition to where it ought to go. My investigation told me that to acquire that street would cost a lot of money. And this is the game people play. This is the game. These people know exactly what they’re doing because if you gotta purchase, you gotta prepare for a hundred thousand. I don’t know if the government is prepared for that, but what we are going to do, our committee, we are going to look at their petition and we are going to see how best we can work with them to at least have the minister of lands on our accord, look at it and other people advise us how to go forward. So we are going to work with these residents. I think that the street is important.”

 

Land is one of the most sought after assets in Belize, however, this community is putting its foot down to say that public accessibility and safety come first.  Britney Gordon for News Five.