The road to securing Maya land rights just hit another bump. Today, during a monitoring hearing at the Caribbean Court of Justice, it was revealed that key deliverables from the last session haven’t been met. Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck, representing the Attorney General, admitted that the Maya Leaders Alliance wasn’t satisfied with the proposed policy and wants major changes. Meanwhile, CCJ President Justice Winston Anderson asked for an update on draft legislation that’s already made its way to Cabinet. The original plan was to iron out differences through that legislation, but now, it seems that approach may be shifting. Attorney Leslie Mendez, representing the MLA, also weighed in.
Andrew Marshalleck, Attorney-at-law
“I think it has. As I said the new minister has been getting his feet wet and met with the parties and decided how he would prefer to proceed. So he is making those proposals to Cabinet. Of course, a substantial part of that policy was already considered and approved by Cabinet. So if it is to be revisited in a substantial way then the issues will have to go back to Cabinet for reconsideration.”
Leslie Mendez, Attorney-at-law
“The issue that we raised in our July third letter are not new issues. Those are issues we have been asking the government for some time, I would say nearly two years. We had been asking them to engage with those issues and we have been waiting for their response to those specific point of disagreements we have with tje policy. Our July letter set those out, reiterating the issues and it is fair to say we have not reengaged in a dialogue, an exchange of ideas with how we can reach middle ground in these issues. I do also want to clarify that it is not our position, I don’t think it is as intransigent that legislation is absolutely not to be discussed or proceeded with why we seek to engage in policy.”