It began on July 2 when workers for the Bocas Fruit Company went on strike because they had not been paid for two weeks. By July 8, police reported 7,000 protesters in Bocas del Toro province, and on July 9 the estimate rose to 10,000. The largely Indigenous population poured out its anger over new laws and government repression by marching and blockading the major roads.  Police cracked down with brutal force, killing at least two and possibly as many as seven Indigenous protesters, injuring and jailing hundreds, and affecting thousands with tear gas.

For Belize’s Mayas, good news was immediately followed by bad. In late June, the Chief Justice ruled that the Mayas of all 33 villages in the Toledo district have customary land tenure rights dating back to their residence in pre-colonial times. The ruling specified that the claimants’ rights to customary land tenure “were not extinguished by formal distribution of leases and titles by colonial settlers or any such law or act” and that they have the right “to seek redress in the courts for any breach.”

Indigenous land owners, students, and citizens in Madang province have been vigorously protesting an amendment to the Environmental Law that denies their right to appeal decisions made by the Ministry of the Environment and Conservation. All forms of protest against the amendment have been banned and criminalized by the government.

A new film by director Ayelén Liberona focuses on the devastating impact on Indigenous communities caused by processing tar sands in Canada, through the eyes of affected children. The film, called Keepers of the Water, features comments from children aged 9 to 12 in Ft. Chipewyan, Alberta, where there has been a 30 percent increase in cancer rates among Native people, including many cases of very rare cancers.

On June 28, the Belize Supreme Court made a groundbreaking decision in granting the Toledo Qhe’chi Maya customary land tenure rights for 33 communities and the right to block resource extraction leases and exploration on their territory.  The government of Belize is now required to hold off on leases, grants, concessions, and contracts in the Toledo District affecting Maya land rights. Read more.