ABSTRACT
For more than a decade, Maya organizations from the Toledo District had waged a legal, bureaucratic, and media battle with the Belize government for control over their traditional lands. This stalemated dispute had ricocheted repeatedly between national and international forums. At long last, the Maya claim returned to the Supreme Court of Belize, now presided over by Justice Abdulai Conteh. With support from the University of Arizona’s Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, two Maya communities—Santa Cruz, a Mopán village, and Conejo, a Q’eqchi’ village—sued the government of Belize for their customary land rights. Defending the government was Ms. Nichola Cho, a lawyer representing the attorney general and the minister of natural resources and environment.
