LAGUNA

Elizabeth Pridgeon

In the mid-nineteenth century, a group of Ketchi Maya who had fled forced labour and discrimination in Via Alta Paz in Guatemala the previous century, again were forced to flee suffering and strife in their ‘home’ village and migrate.  This village was San Miguel (Toledo), and the new village that they created became the flourishing community of Laguna.

Laguna is situated approximately ten miles northwest of Punta Gorda town, and its village access road leads directly to the recently-paved Southern Highway.  With a population of around 350 residents, Laguna is not a sizeable village, even for Toledo standards, but the services and facilities that it boasts are all an impressive consequence of hard work and determination of its Ketchi residents.

Laguna was one of the first villages to enrol in the Toledo Ecotourism Association (TEA) Guesthouse Program, which is still running today.  This enables socially-responsible tourists to support local ecotourism initiatives, whilst experiencing holistic Ketchi life (village affairs, milpa agriculture and culinary traditions are all on display for the visitors to experience).  However, concerns are being raised by numerous villagers that Laguna Guesthouse has not received any custom for over a year.  Members of the Women’s Group in the village explained that several groups had booked a trip in advance, but were later advised against it due to the state of continued ill-repair of the Kendall Bridge which could leave the tourists ‘stranded’ if heavy rains came.
Villagers of Laguna have therefore been left even more dependent on their traditional milpa systems as a source of income.  Rice, cacao, livestock and timber are all raised on family smallholdings, currently sized around 25 acres per household, which are subdivisions made on communal land leases.  There is much uncertainty throughout the village about the contentious communal versus private land issue that is currently being debated between various indigenous factions including the Maya Leaders’ Alliance and The Citizens group.  Whichever way the village decide on the issue, the access road to the villagers’ farm land is one of the principal concerns raised among farmers, in order for them to better improve their agricultural efficiency.  The Toledo Cacao Growers Association (TCGA) also supports the village economy, and residents seem satisfied with the $2.20 per pound price currently offered by the association for well-fermented and well-dried cacao.  Before this alternative, village cacao production was kept at a subsistence level, and only small quantities were sold at the Punta Gorda market, or to neighbouring villages that occasionally sought to supplement their supply.
The one relatively recent problem to arise concerns the fundamental management of the village.  The Alcalde fulfils his role involving law and order in the community, and even the incidence of domestic violence (often excluded from an Alcalde’s priorities) is beginning to decrease.  However, the village Chairman is widely criticized as neglecting his role.  Last month, the Chairman, Mr Eduardo Coy, was asked by fellow councillors to call a village meeting to discuss issues and to arrange the well overdue fajina to distribute communal duties among villagers.  If he continues to delay this, the Vice Chairman, Mr Vicente Sackul, claims that he will have to follow the guidelines of the Village Council Act and independently call a meeting which may potentially overthrow the Chairman from his role.  Another issue related to this is the apparent absence of any financial reports from the council having been submitted either for the perusal of the villagers, or for the files in the Rural Development Office in Punta Gorda.  Villagers suspect that money may be unaccounted for in the budget, which explains the Chairman’s reluctance to submit his monthly report.
Due to this neglect on the part of the Chairman, villagers have independently organised themselves into labour groups, ensuring that even without the usual level of supervision, streets continue to be cleaned and communal help continues to be given to villagers (such as rallying groups to help with drying and storing rice).
On first impressions, the village seems far removed from the urban areas of Belize, but it is amazing the facilities that the villagers maintain for communal purposes.  The residents are proud of their natural heritage, encouraging people to visit the unique ceremonial cave with pictographs, or to take a tour around the Aguacaliente Lagoon Reserve, which provides employment for a couple of local guides from the village.  Laguna also boasted one of the first water pumping systems for villagers as early as the 1980s, and in the 1990s a community corn mill was established to assist the women with producing ground corn for making tortillas.  The village is also home to a computer centre, although the satellite-powered internet facilities are currently discontinued due to insufficient funds to meet the $175 monthly fee.  Similarly, the community library is currently closed due to administrative problems.  The health clinic is in desperate need of repair, causing visiting medics to create makeshift clinics in the community centre rather than use the poor clinic designed for this purpose; similarly, the school needs a little renovating, and one classroom in particular is persistently victim to flooding and poor drainage, which makes classes during heavy rains impossible without sharing classrooms.
Laguna has a remarkable history of providing for itself – sustainable agriculture, ecotourism and a focus on education has helped the village continue to develop.  However, current problems are increasingly hindering the village from continuing to move forward, and without external help from the Toledo district or the Belizean government, the village will struggle to continue its impressive developments over the coming years.  Laguna residents are aware of the predicament in which they find themselves, and welcome any truly beneficial support that will enable Laguna to continue progressing into the twenty-first century.

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