‘Belize Prides Us as Cacao Capital, But Wants to Reduce Us to 5 Acres’

Belize markets Toledo as its chocolate capital, but Maya Leaders Alliance spokesperson Cristina Coc says the government’s own land proposal would strip protection from the very farms behind that industry.

Speaking after Thursday’s Caribbean Court of Justice hearing on Maya customary land rights, Maya Leaders Alliance spokesperson Cristina Coc questioned what she described as a contradiction between the government’s support for Belize’s growing cacao industry and its proposed approach to recognising Maya customary land. 

According to Coc, government representatives have suggested automatically recognizing up to five acres of land per person under a proposed framework for Maya customary land tenure. 

“The question I have for the government of Belize is, do they believe that we can continue to practice our fishing, our hunting, our planting restricted to this small circular space of five acres per person? Some of our members, for instance, have cacao farms that are much bigger than five acres,” Coc said. 

She added, “On the one hand, the government celebrates Toledo as the chocolate capital, but on the other hand, they propose five acres per person, completely leaving out our cacao farms to insecure protection.” 

The Alliance maintains that any legislation modelled on a fixed acreage formula fails to reflect actual land use patterns passed down through generations.

“The government is not acting in good faith,” Coc added. “We are part and parcel of Belize. We do contribute to the development of this country. We are taxpaying members of this country and we are very aware when in fact the government is acting in bad faith.”