Guat loggers, xateros fire on BDF, forest rangers in Toledo!
Posted: 05/09/2008 - 08:22 AM
Author: N. Wicks and N. Miller
(The Ya’axché Conservation Trust)
The conservation of rich, natural areas is central to our way of life in Belize. We have a well developed national system of protected areas that characterizes who we are as a nation and ensures quality of life and a healthy environment for future generations. Organizations such as Ya’axché Conservation Trust help guarantee our conservation values by managing the protection of these brilliant natural areas.
This past Friday afternoon, August 29, our “conservation values” came under direct violent assault from illegal loggers and xateros in the form of a gunfight. A multi-agency team of 16 members from the Belize Defence Force (BDF), Bladen Nature Reserve and Ya’axché Conservation Trust conducted a five-day patrol in the scenic Colombia River Forest Reserve.
After documenting thousands of dollars worth of illegal mahogany extraction, capturing nine horses and two chainsaws, the patrol was fired upon by a large number of armed Guatamalans. The Belize Defence Force immediately returned fire over the heads of the Guatamalans to scare them off.
One Guatamalan fell and sustained injuries to his head while retreating. The joint patrol applied first aid, but could not evacuate the injured person because they were forced to flee the area for their own safety because the illegal loggers had more firepower and only needed to reorganize for a new attack.
While all members of the patrol reached their pickup point safely, they were scared for their lives at many points during the incident.
“It was so shocking. We never imagined that our patrol would cause someone to want to kill us,” one ranger on the patrol stated (names withheld for security measures).
The Columbia River Forest Reserve (CRFR) is located in the south of the Maya Mountains. The area is known as pristine, but has been affected by hurricanes in the past. Most of the CRFR is above 700 meters above sea level and exhibits healthy forests with dominant species of mahogany, santa maria and rosewood.
In the past 30 years CRFR has been affected largely by illegal incursions from the agricultural frontier from Guatemalan Ketchi communities. Areas along the border, such as Santa Rosa, have been impacting negatively the flora and fauna of the area. The lucrative xate and mahogany market has increased the illegal trade in CRFR at an exponential rate.
The last joint patrol in CRFR was in May of 2008 and led to the arrest of two Guatemalan loggers. All indications are that logging operations have increased significantly since then. There are an extensive number of fallen mahogany trees and logging trails throughout the area.
The multiagency patrol began on Tuesday, August 26, from one of the outlying villages of CRFR. The patrol was ordinary for the first three days, save for the alarming evidence of illegal extraction.
Day Four was anything but ordinary for the 16-member patrol, which had divided in the morning into three groups to accomplish their reporting tasks. In the early afternoon when the group reconvened at a base camp, they began to realize that they were seriously outmanned by loggers.
“At one point all we could hear was the loud buzz of chainsaws surrounding us. We knew then there were a lot of loggers out here doing a lot of damage to our Belizean forests and not happy about us trying to stop them,” explained the ranger.
Eventually a large group of the loggers moved in on the patrol. When the BDF soldiers shouted for their compatriots to be ready, shots were fired directly at the patrol. Returning fire immediately over the heads of the loggers forced them to retreat. This was when one Guatamalan fell and was badly injured. The BDF called for a helicopter, a doctor and reinforcements.
Four hours passed and finally a helicopter arrived; however, it could not be identified and so the patrol did not signal it to land. Fearing it may have been Guatemalan, the patrol members spread out to hide in the forest. As night fell, the sound of crackling branches came from the hillside surrounding the patrol.
Everyone was on edge, and the decision was made to leave camp and head for Union Camp and Edward Central. Finally, on Sunday, August 30, the patrol made it back to Fairweather Camp.
As one can imagine, many of the rangers do not believe they should have to risk their lives to stand up for the conservation of Belizean forests. The multi-agency patrols require a great deal of collaboration, and support from multiple agencies, and we must have everyone on board to ensure success. There must be an urgent, sweeping effort made across agencies to increase the protection of the Columbia River Forest Reserve and other similar areas.
“We need more support. The BDF needs more support. The current situation is too dangerous,” said the Ya’axché ranger.
Observation posts are one way of increasing the protection of our near border areas. Hon. Carlos Perdomo, the Minister of National Security, approved the fulltime manning by the BDF and Police of the observation post in Rio Blanco.
A second post in the Columbia River Forest Reserve would be extremely useful as well. This incident should be a wake-up call for us to boost our national security efforts for our own safety, and for the sake of conservation.
Ya’axché’s Missison: The Ya’axché Conservation Trust is a community-oriented organization which advances integrated landscape management for equitable development in southern Belize through sustainable land use management, strategic advocacy and awareness, and by supporting socially innovative and economically viable enterprises.
(Ed. NOTE: According to Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexis Rosado, the Government of Belize has written to the Organization of American States to have them investigate the incident.)
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