3 days ago
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A small but vocal group of residents on Caye Caulker staged a protest this afternoon amid concerns over the reported sale of the island’s police station land. The gathering, which took place near the police compound, was fueled by circulating reports suggesting that the property may have been sold or transferred without public knowledge. However, senior command within the Belize Police Department has pushed back against those claims, stating that there has been no move to sell the land and no recent transfer of the land title. Despite those assurances, residents say they are seeking clarity and transparency on the matter. Chairlady of the Caye Caulker Village Council, Seleny Villanueva Pott, told the media that the community deserves clear answers regarding the status of the property.
Seleny Villanueva Pott, Chairlady Caye Caulker Village: “We want answers. We’re not sure of what’s going on. We don’t know the truth behind the rumors. We have to say it’s rumors because we don’t know if the property was sold or not. And truly all we want is to be engaged. We want to know if it’s still ours. We’re hoping that it still is. But we would have liked for area rep or minister of police would have engaged us in some sort of discussion. I mean, we didn’t have to get here but we’re not getting answers. And our community demands answers. And if we can’t give it to them, then they need to give us some sort of explanation as to what’s going on. We have all right to know, this is our island. Those properties are public spaces. They belong to the people of Caye Caulk so we really need to know what’s going on. We had a meeting with CABEI and a couple of the police department representatives and we were told that the project was in full swing and everything should be ready and completed in a year. So when we saw that the project was halted, that was alarming to us. You know, then we started to ask questions, you know, we started to hear rumors. And that’s when we began to get inquisitive. You know, my deputy heard something and where she heard it from was very credible. So that is what sounded the alarm. But we really didn’t know anything until I believe last week, Wednesday. And that’s when we started to. But we demand that we know what’s going on with the public spaces.”
Meanwhile, UDP Senator Gabriel Zetina also weighed in on the issue. Zetina explained that he conducted a title search at the Lands Department, which confirmed that the land was officially transferred to the Police Department in February 2023. However, he noted that he was unable to identify any further transactions or changes involving the property since that time.
Gabrial Zetina, UDP Senator: “When I heard about this last week, I heard about it Thursday or I think it was Thursday immediately I put in a title search request and then on Friday, which I guess was leaked out to the media and what’s not but what that title search yielded was that the government of Belize in February 14, 2020, they transferred that land over to the Belize Police Department. Now what happened then? who knows but the same day a land certificate was issued under the Belize Police Department which is the 14th of February 2023. Now today I learned that this land even before that was given as a donation by a family who all they wanted was to see these types of good development to happen on the island precisely to build a police station and so that was a gift to the the village council and you know what happens since then I mean how can you possibly be whether it’s true how can you sell something that was not even gifted to you it was gifted to the village council and secondly if you went to acquire a loan from CABEI or a grant on that under the pretext that you’re gonna build a police station on parcel 815 where did….how…..you this is some of he things I can’t understand.”
To date, authorities maintain that no sale is underway. We will keep following this story.
English (US) ·