Port Expansion Reignites Decades-Old Land Dispute

A fence was supposed to settle it, but more than twenty years later, the boundary battle between the Port of Belize and Port Loyola resident Terryl Godoy is far from over. Godoy welcomed the fence when the port erected it several years ago, believing it clearly separated the two properties. Now, with government planning a multimillion-dollar port expansion, he fears the land he has occupied for nearly four decades could once again be at risk. Although he has no title, Godoy says one is in the works, and he is ready to defend his claim in court.

 

Terryl Godoy, Port Loyola Resident

“They were first Petrogen and they went bankrupt and nothing reach the court and then Luke Espat came and I am still here. Mr. Lane they agreed, between them and I where the boundary is. They put a boundary separate to the back where the port boundary is and my boundary. And then I just proceed with my paper because of the way my finances are. Now, the port change from private to government. I dah wah long time squatter which for thirty-nine years I have been here and now there is a thing called, by prescription this belongs to me. All of this belongs to me by prescription. Now, I don’t have the physical paper because it takes time and process. All of that is for me. We don’t have the papers because that is for me and how I know that, we preserve it for thirty-nine years. we could have built and processed that. The government, I don’t want to stand in the process what they are doing. They have form the western road to here. It is not the government itself; it is the people the government has working for them. Maybe Mr. Tux doesn’t know about this. Maybe he does. But we have sent a letter to him and he should get that. I went there and talked to his workers and they said he is not there.”

 

We reached out to CEO Arturo Vasquez who informed us that the matter has been long-outstanding with no real legal attention given to it. He confirmed that the matter has been turned over to the Port of Belize’s team of attorneys to settle. He noted that with the recent expansion of the port, the management needs to ensure that proper fencing is in place in accordance with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code. We will continue to follow.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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