New leadership for SATIIM

Froyla Tzalam

Tuesday, August 26, 2014. JUAN CAAL Reporting: There is a new Executive Director for the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, SATIIM.

After years at the helm, Greg Choc today stepped down, paving the way for Froyla Tzalam to take over as the new Executive Director and at the same time ushering in a new era of leadership of SATIIM.

The announcement of the change in leadership for SATIIM was made this morning during a press conference which was held at the conference room of the Belize Social Security Board in Punta Gorda town.

Greg Choc

Choc explained to hundreds of villagers from Maya communities that he is leaving SATIIM at this time to pursue a law degree at the University of the West Indies.

Tzalam takes over at SATIIM at a time when the organization is heavily involved in advocacy for Maya communities that buffer the Sarstoon Temash National Park where U.S. Capital Energy has a permit to drill for oil.

Tzalam, in accepting the appointment by the Board of Directors pledged to continue the work of SATIIM, that is why she is taking on this challenge of giving a collective voice to the people of the claimant communities.

As for the ongoing consultation on oil exploration that is being conducted by the Toledo District Association of Village Councils, DAVCO, Tzalam says that exercise in no way affects the claimant communities.

She stated that DAVCO is not providing any accountable way of how they will be representing the people’s interest and furthermore, she charged that DAVCO is going around in Maya communities without even recognizing Maya land rights.

And even though he will be thousands of miles away pursuing studies, Greg Choc says he will stay firmly in tuned with what’s going on on the ground in Toledo and wll serve as an adviser to SATIIM and the Maya communities.

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