Caye Caulker Residents Demand Action Against Illegal Beach Developments

Following today’s unfortunate incident on Caye Caulker, residents are calling on the government to address what they say is the illegal encroachment of public land. The village’s Chairwoman, Seleny Villanueva-Pott, says several people have constructed structures on portions of the island’s beaches that are within the buffer zone. According to Pott, the developments are illegal and will continue to prevent fire trucks from being able to access large portions of the island.  

Seleny Villanueva- Pott, ChairPerson, Caye Caulker Village: “I want to take this opportunity to call on the relevant agencies Ministry of Natural Resources, the Minister of Natural Resources we need to address the situation with all these illegal structures on the beach. As far as we are aware all beaches are public and in a situation like this where the fire truck was not able to properly access the beach area we want to further prevent any of these incidents so we’re calling on the relevant agencies to please address these situations. This is not the norm and we would want to fix it is as soon as possible.”

Vejea Alvarez, Love News: How difficult has it been to address these issues because I know that it’s been something that you guys have been adamant in trying to address.

Seleny Villanueva- Pott, ChairPerson, Caye Caulker Village: “It’s been a little bit challenging however we know after today’s incident we have the entire Caye Caulker community’s support. There were actually people chanting this morning “Go get the backhoe and let’s tear it down immediately.” We may want to get radical yes and do that however we know there are thing that need to be done and that’s why we’re calling on the relevant agencies for us to do this the right way.”

Love News understands that one of the illegal structures belong to an attorney who recently made headlines.