Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs confirms appeal of Jalacte compensation case

Published by BBNTEAM at July 8, 2021

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Posted: Thursday, July 8, 2021. 8:38 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: The Government of Belize has been hinting that it wants to appeal the decision of Acting Chief Justice Michelle Arana, issued three weeks ago, awarding compensation for the seizing of private property to build the Jalacte Road while insisting that it supports the Maya people in establishing communal property among their villages.

Today, Minister with responsibility for Indigenous People’s Affairs, Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, confirmed they will do so on the basis of law and quantum.

“There are some legal issues that arose; even if it were just the matter of quantum, we must look at an appeal there. But I think there are some legal issues at hand which have been discussed and you can depend that an appeal will be going forward,” the Minister told reporters this afternoon.

Minister Balderamos-Garcia distinguishes the court case from her portfolio, which is to engage with the Maya people in the implementation of the now-six-year-old Consent Order of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) issued in 2015 and attendant issues.

“We can’t act overnight, but we will try to act a bit quicker and more effectively than what happened between 2015 and 2020,” she concluded.

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