DEcember 20 Evening News - Channel Seven

Barrow Unveils Deer Caye Gravy Train


Last month we took you to Deer Caye, a small pair of islands just northwest of Ambergris Caye. The Deer Cayes, all 1600 acres of them are in a wildlife reserve, but the land itself is not part of the reserve. And while the Southern Caye is in private hands, the larger, Northern Caye was in government hands, but not anymore. At yesterday's House meeting, the leader of the Opposition disclosed to whom the deer cayes have been sold. Here's what he had to say.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
On November 6th we showed you Northern Deer Caye, it had already been surveyed and we saw those lines all across the island - even into the seabed - the sea bed of an area that forms part of the Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. But no matter all that, when asked about Deer Caye 10 days after we aired our story, this is what the Minister of Natural Resources had to say.

Hon. Dean Barrow, UDP Leader
"Will the Minister of Natural Resources say whether government has sold or agreed to sell land in the Deer Caye Range and if so how much land and to whom""

Hon. Florencio Marin, Minister of Natural Resources
"Madam Speaker no sale or agreement to sell has been made by the Land and Surveys Department. However, applications for land in Deer Caye have been submitted to the Department and preliminary research is in progress to assist in determining the extent of national lands available."

Hon. Dean Barrow,
"Will the Minister give an assurance that if government decides to sell or agrees to sell that he will inform the House and the nation?"

Hon. Florencio Marin,
"Madam Speaker, I think I have served in this town long enough to know my duty as a Minister."

And it appears his duty is to sell, and cheap - island property for upwards of $200 an acre. Not bad when you consider that those who he sells it to, on-sell it for 40 times that - as much as US$5,000 an acre. So this is the plan of Deer Caye now - it was approved on December 4th 2007, just three weeks after that House meeting and shows the island cut up into blocks. Principal among those are 50 acres given to Horse Shoe Company, 50 acres to Jumbo Company and another 30 acres to DA Company. The Leader of the Opposition disclosed it at yesterday's House meeting.

Hon. Dean Barrow,
"There is grant number 1179 of 2007 to Jumbo Limited, a company at the corner of Orange Street and Water Lane in Belize City in the Belize District, 50.9 acres of land at Deer Caye north of San Pedro Town, Belize District, bounded and described as shown by plan number for the princely sum of $13,023.40. 50 acres of Caye Land.

I know for example with respect to the Deer Caye Range and the acres that they have transferred, these same people who bought for less than $250 an acre are selling now for US$5,000 an acre. So they do these transfers, the people turn right around and flip what they get from them. They give to these people for $250 an acre.

The second one is granted number 1177 of 2007. DA Holding Company Limited of 63 Albert Street Belize City, block number 2, 30.26 acres of land situated at Deer Caye north of San Pedro Town Belize City for the princely sum of $7,867.60. The third one Madam Speaker is grant number 1176 of 2007. Horse-Shoe Company Limited of 73 Albert Street, Belize City Belize District, block number 1. 100.56 acres of land situated at Deer Caye, north of San Pedro Tlown, Belize District, for the princely sum of $26,145.60.

He knew that this thing was a matter of public controversy because Channel 7 had actually shown us footage of pegs that were in the water surrounding one or other of the cayes in the Deer Caye Range. And so everybody including the environmentalists were up in arms."

Hon. Florencio Marin,
"Where the cayes are concerned, I also took a position that if development were to happen, we cannot tie capital and I instructed that section of the civil service that the cayes will be sold at $200 an acre to everybody that came around. There was no change up nor down. Why? As I said not to tie up capital but also developing cayes required a lot of money by the way of dredging to fill and improve the beaches for tourism development."

Hon. Manuel Heredia, Belize Rural South Area Rep.
"These potential developers that you are talking, I know several of them. They are developers. They are speculators that are sold the land for $200 and they turn around and sell it for $15,000 to $20,000 an acre. This land issue is not about empowering Minister. You are totally wrong in that. It is about making campaign monies; it is about enriching a few people. I will give you an example, jump in San Mateo, which is an area that I will regard as a ghetto in San Pedro, which is very unfortunate, in have seen the purchase prices that have been issued to those people. Low land, a piece of land, 50 by 75, $9,000, $11,000 - just recently. And you are talking about $200 an acre. Is that empowerment?"

And while Deer Caye was of particular interest to us, Barrow read a long list of special names who'd gotten special pieces of land and we'll have more on that in tomorrow's newscast.