San
Pedro Daily  |
Thursday, July 2,
2009 Belize's Only Daily |
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ISLAND
SUPERMARKET "Best Prices - Best Quality - Best Service" Phone: 501-226-2972 or 501-226-2973 FREE DELIVERY IN TOWN |
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The Politics of
Archeology
at 7th Symposium 
The seventh Archaeology Symposium started
in Belize City this
morning. The annual event attracts dozens of archaeologists to present
and listen to the most up-to-date research on the Maya in Belize and
this year they’re really digging in the dirt. We found out more.
Jules Vasquez Reporting, Dr. Jaime Awe, the Director of the Institute of Archaeology, told us that this year the theme is Ritual and Religion. Dr. Jaime Awe, Director Archaeology “I get excited with very symposium that we have, this year in particular because it focuses on ritual and religion. Like we said if you want an argument you either talk politics or religion. So we hope this will trigger some very interesting debate. Particularly because religion is one of those things that in archaeology is very hard to determine. And so what we’re hoping is that again focusing on religion that we will try to understand some aspects of the Maya past that we still poorly understand.” And that discussion will inevitably involve some of the more controversial aspects of Mayan ritual. 
Dr. Jaime Awe,
“When we say ritual and religion it is open to every thing. Some people will be talking about human sacrifice. In fact I know in my presentation for instance I found some areas where I found four skulls. Either these people were decapitated or they took out these skeletons from somewhere else and placed them in there. We have deposits where we found like a baking pot, more than two hundred finger bones, and they were placed in little pots. Obviously somebody got their finger cut. We’ve got lots of cave in Belize. The Mayas were going to these caves and having ceremonies. So really there is something there for everybody.” But, most of the folks in the audience listening to the presentation, while they are experts on the Maya in Belize, they aren’t Belizeans. Awe made an appeal for Belizean to take part in the symposium. Dr. Jaime Awe, “I think that symposiums like these are especially good for students or for teachers. You know, anybody in academia. It is also very good for people in tourism because we know that our tour operators or our tour guides take you or your family or a foreign visitor to Altun Ha or Lamanai and by coming to these symposiums they will get an up to date report of what is happening at these sites.” This year the scholarly presentations have as much to do with politics as they do with archaeology, as was made clear by Dr. Richard Leventhal in his opening address about Mayan identity. 
Dr. Richard Leventhal,
“What I’m trying to get at today is the Maya claim is one that it is based upon their construction of their own past and they are doing this not because they feel that they want to fight against Belize, they are doing it because they want recognition within Belize of their history and their past as much as being part of Belize and also been partly Mayan. Archaeology is about politics, it is about not archaeology is being used to understand the nature of not just the past but also the present.” The symposium runs until July 3rd. Students enter free when they present their school ID and Belizeans enter for just $10 a day. As per tradition, the Institute of Archaeology will also be launching a compendium of research called “Archaeological Research in Belize.CH7 Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary
surveyed for sale 
The Belize Barrier Reef System has been
placed on the UNESCO Danger
List. This follows an evaluation by UNESCO which found that the
government appeared to be managing mangrove islands as unprotected
national public lands and not as a part of the world heritage property.
On June nineteenth, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural
Resources, Gaspar Vega, went ballistic in the House over the issue and
blamed his predecessor in this manner.
Gaspar Vega, Deputy Prime Minister “The significant outcome of the report is that Belize may be considered for immediate inscription on the list of world heritage in danger. The past administration and principally, I must stare at him and say the Honourable Johnny Briceño, Leader of the Opposition for now, under his stewardship embarked on a self-destructive program to deprive and to rob. Yes, literally rob the people of this country and the world in extension in the sale and granting of leases in these precious sites.” Well, documents available to News Five show that the Ministry of Natural Resources has approved the survey of an area comprising a little over fifteen acres of the Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary for eventual sale or lease to three persons. While the sanctuary is not part of the barrier reef system, it was reserved back in 2002 and is located at a few miles east of Belize City in an area known as Drowned Caye Range. According to the documents from the Ministry of Natural Resources, the approval for the survey was given as recent as May twelfth, 2009. The survey was done on May twenty-eighth in the names of Sharon Fraser, Wayne Fraser and Rurico Alvarado. Each parcel comprises five acres plus and the area in question is located at the tip of Mapp’s Caye. The Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary encompasses nine thousand acres of sea and mangrove and is managed by Friends of Swallow Caye, a non profit conservation NGO that focuses on the protection of endangered manatees and other forms of marine life. The NGO is funded by the U.N.D.P. and PACT. This afternoon, News Five spoke to Lionel “Chocolate” Heredia, president of Friends of Swallow Caye, who said that he was not apprised of the survey but that if this is so, then it would be in violation of the sanctuary. CH5 World Heritage rep explains why reef
is on danger list 
When the reef was accepted as a world
heritage site in 1996 there
were sporadic commercial developments on cayes within the site. But
thirteen years later the expansion and dredging continued and that is
what UNESCO representatives found during their recent visit to Belize.
The ground work and report was made by Marc Patry who attended the
thirty-third session of World Heritage Committee in Seville Spain.
Marc Patry, Natural Heritage Marine Programme Specialist, UNESCO “The red flag that came up when we were there was the ongoing process of selling off or renting off mangrove islands within the World Heritage Site for development. You got to understand the Belize Barrier Reef. The Belize people ten years ago nominated this site. They said the site had a particular value; the marine ecosystem, the mangrove ecosystem. They said “we have great mangrove ecosystems here but on the other hand we see that they are letting them go. So this is what we flagged as the main concern at our visit back in March.” Jose Sanchez “What particular sites made you add Belize’s reef for recommendation to the list of World Heritages in Danger?” Marc Patry “We were in South Water Caye area where we saw some development going on; I think it’s called Catt caye, or Pelican caye. The cayes had different names at different times, but we also managed to take an over flight of the cayes and we saw quite a bit. This is not the only place where you had some mangrove cutting, some in-filling and some development.” “This list is actually a tool. You know. When the World Heritage convention was first written up in past by the countries of the world in 1972 they put in a clause called the world heritage list in danger and the purpose of that was to flag that when some sites needed some extra push or cause for concern for help by the national government or even international support, then we put it on the danger list. We use the danger list as a tool to bring greater attention and greater cooperation to help in dealing with the challenges and that’s how it should be seen. If the general impression is the government of Belize doesn’t care about the site and does nothing to conserve it then there is no choice but to delist it altogether.” Patry has since returned to the World Heritage Center in Paris and he says that the committee may choose to return to Belize and do a site inspection within a year to a year and a half. Developments in reserves have always been under fire by NGO’s. Today the Association of Protected Areas Protected Management Organizations sent a letter to the offices of both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Natural Resources requesting a meeting within the next two weeks to find a solution to move forward. APAMO’s letter refers to the reef’s listing “shameful” and calls on the government to implement corrective and monitoring measures to restore the site’s outstanding universal characteristics and values. CH5 NOTICES
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR CHAMBER MEETING
Business owners and all members please meet us today, Thursday, for the July 2nd AC Chamber meeting at the Blue Water Grill at noon. It's been a month since the last
meeing so bring your
concerns/needs and let's discuss the topics that are affecting business
and life on Ambergris Caye.
SCHEDULED POWER
OUTAGES
All that area north of the river Saturday, July 4, 9:00 to 2:00 Vacation Bible School
will be held at Holy Cross Anglican School every
week day in July. VBS is open to all children in the community from
ages 5 to 12 and is free of charge. The program starts at 9am and
finishes at 11:30am. A mid-morning snack will be served to the
children. Please send your children to this exciting time of learning,
arts and crafts, Bible stories, sports, singing and dancing! For
additional information call Holy Cross School at 226-3456. The Office
is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am until 2pm.
THOUGHT
OF THE DAY
Being a princess isn't all it's cracked up to be Princess Diana
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  www.grandcaribe.com debbiewade@gmail.com
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© SAN PEDRO DAILY, PO Box 45, San Pedro Town, Belize. Inquiries to editor@sanpedrodaily.com |
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