Roan McNab sent a long update on the situation in the Maya Biosphere of Guatemala. I have posted it below. (click MORE)

Other posts on this site about Roan's work:

The Daily Glyph: The Battle of El Peru
The Daily Glyph: Destruction of Maya Biosphere

I will follow up on the Rios Montt situation he mentions, and update this entry. Here's today's report from Prensa Libre in Guatemala. Still awaiting a decision.

Greetings from rainy Gainesville. Am here, brief home visit, awaiting
news on the Constitutional Court's decision in Guatemala, on whether the
shameless General and President of the Congress, Efrain Rios Montt, can
run for President in this November's national elections. As the highest
court of the land in Guatemala, many assume that the CC will uphold the
rulings already given in the three lower courts, including the Supreme
Court (CSJ), and the Elections Tribunal (TSE). The decision on this is
supposedly coming out today, this afternoon. May want to check
www.prensalibre.com tomorrow if interested.

The future of the Maya Forest will be affected by this election,
probably more so than any events in Mexico, and certainly even Belize -
even with the big lawsuit now moving to England. Although I fully
support Ari and the efforts of the NRDC, the potential impacts to the
Macal river, and the Maya Mountains section of Belize are miniscule in
scale compared to the impacts of chaos and sheer lack of law in the
Guatemalan section of the forest. We Maya forest lovers need to keep our
eyes on the prize....the big expansive tract that remains. The heart of
the forest, as in Maya times, lies in Guatemala. So this is why we hope
for a serious change in Gov. in Guatemala, in fact, we hope for
something along the lines of what happened recently to Arnoldo Aleman in
Nicaragua.... that the same happens in Guatemala. Fingers crossed. We
recently discovered, for example, that two Alcaldes Auxiliares, the ones
from San Andres (ie containing Lag. del Tigre Nat Park), and the one
from San Luis (South Central Peten), not only have huge agarradas up in
LdT, but are fomenting the invasions into those areas in exchange for
votes, promising to legalize portions of the land cleared for the
invaders - while the rest goes to the scumbag rich terratenientes.
Increasingly, poor campesinos are merely used by rich cattle ranchers to
simply clear land.

There have been a number of stories in the press about the situation in
the Maya Biosphere, esp the area around El Peru where the Macaws nest,
and where Dr. David Freidel has initiated an important archaeological
investigation of this site, which supposedly served as the site from
which Tikal was conquered in an alliance with Teotihuacan in approx 340
AD.

> http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=2986332&
>
>

This link above supposedly leads to an article on the El Peru area, just
north of the San Pedro near Paso Caballos, which contains a majority of
the macaw nests known in Guatemala. we are in a battle to save this
site. Unfortunately, CI-ProPeten, and CI-Canan Kaa'x managed nearly $18
million of AID funds to consolidate the Maya Biosphere, much of it
destined to Laguna del Tigre National Park, with almost NO results to
show for it right now. LdT is total chaos, we are struggling to save
some 30-50,000 Ha of the 289,000 park, the largest park in Central
America. Conservative estimates indicate that at least 70% of the park
burned this year alone! Invaders, armed people, timber traffic, cattle
ranching, mojados, and the Big D word too. All a bummer when it comes to
biodiversity.

So....life in the last 6 months consisted mainly of coordinating a
strategy to save what we can in the El Peru area, while keeping a
watchful eye on the entry of the IDB into Uaxactun via Tikal. This
project, called Mundo Maya, now proposes a $8 million investment in
Uaxactun, paving the road from Tikal for $5.77 million, of course, a
loan to the country of Guatemala. 23 kilometers. The IDB's secret
documents (which we have attained) estimate 30,000 people visiting
Uaxactun in just the first year after paving. In the current climate of
the total lack of the rule of law, we easily imagine the native Uaxactun
people being displaced by a massive influx of tourism
interests...thereby undermining (destroying ?) the local Non-timber
culture which has conserved that area for more than 80 years. What is
worse, is the local people of Uaxactun have not been consulted, desite
IDB claims to the contrary. So we have, at the village's request,
provided them with over 150 copies of the most relevant documents in our
possession. The village recently sent a letter, two letters, to the Pres
of Guatemala, and the pres of IDB, Enrique Iglesias, declaring their
inconformity with the plans, clarifying that they have not been
consulted, and rejecting the road outright. These letters can later be
provided to people who may find them useful.

So, while we struggle to save the parts of the Guatemalan forest most
under pressure (Laguna del Tigre, Lacandon), the threats to the solid,
INTACT, eastern MBR are increasing as the King Vulture IDB/PPP prepares
to land (escorted, shielded, by CI).

In Lacandon, the Guatemalan section continues to become more isolated as
an island of intact, highly diverse, forest surrounded by a rising sea
of humanity. As y'all know, Lacandon is probably the most biologically
diverse part of the Maya Biosphere, due to the presence of water and the
exaggerated relief of the Sierra. An interesting aside, Mac Chapin of
Native Lands came through Flores and the Peten recently, towed by Nacho
March of CI as CI attempts to engage Native Lands in some aspect of
either their Maya Forest Ecoregional Plan (called the CEPF of the 5 Maya
Forest countries, Mex, Gua, Bz, Sal, Hon), or the IDB/Mundo Maya
Initiative of which CI is a partner. Yes, that is not a typo. Now CI
works in Uaxactun, or will be shortly, along with CounterPart
International. CI - "working to conserve Uaxactun through the
development of ecotourism".......I can just see it now.

Pues, Mac Chapin showed the Map he recently did for Nat Geo, I assume
y'all have seen it. Quite interesting. A map of Mesoamerica showing
Ethnic/Lingusitic distributions on one side, and the state of the forest
on the other.

Mac said "the one over-riding trend we see across the isthmus is
FRAGMENTATION". And he was candid about that being very much the case
within the Indigenous lands being managed by local/native peoples. He
detailed the fragmentation ocurring in Mexican Lacandon. Wow. massive.
However, to really ride this train o' thought, y'all may want to check
out the recent article by Bill Weinberg in the May/June issue of NACLA,
Volume XXXVI, No. 6, entitled "Mexico: Lacandon Selva Conflict Grows".
Interestingly, it has the subtitle: "In Mexico's Lacandon jungle, poor
settlers claim environmentalists are aiding government counterinsugency
and development plans".

Hmmmm. Not us. But, w/ no rule of law not jack shit will ever be saved.
A dilemma to say the least. Now I wonder.....are they "settlers"....or
"invaders". Which is it. That word says it all, and if one supports the
notion of national land dedicated to conservation...well....it seems to
me it should be illegal to independently "settle" national land esp. if
there are no prior land claims or standing.

So....as pressure mounted throughout the fire season and the increasing
invasions of conservation lands, I screamed and screamed until finally I
travelled to Guatemala to present the case of the MBR to the Ambassador
of the UN (MINUGUA), Mr. Tom Koenigs. Very interesting discussion with
the head of a mission often accused of protecting Human (ie Invader's)
Rights over the need to uphold the rule of law (ie. According to the
law, invasions of national park land are illegal, and this land can not
be bought or sold for personal gain). Ironically, I had, at that time,
been marching with the Gua military and police looking for invaders, to
have a dialogue with them, and make it clear that they would not be
allowed to settle in these park areas, despite having cut and torched
the areas already. We were telling them they would go to jail if they
remain. After the dialogue with Mr. Koenigs, I felt satisfied that
indeed the UN supports the UNESCO-recognized Maya Biosphere
Reserve.....(a relief indeed)...as a site of world importance. And we
convinced him that the UN needed to update their land conflict
classification scheme to include a category which more accurately
reflects the current situation: ALL OUT ARMED INVASIONS.

Then, two weeks ago the US Ambassador came to visit. I guided an
overflight with the Gov of Peten, the Ambassador and all his staff,
Marie Claire, personnel of CONAP Peten, etc etc....we stuck all their
noses right in the worst of it all, open borders, the Usu river, the
Cenotes and the Macabilero area, all the invasions in Lacandon and
Laguna del Tigre, the huge illegal and untouchable (narco) cattle
ranches around Laguna Mendoza (SW Lacandon), the NEW narco landing strip
chopped right next to the Guayacan lagunas in NE Lacandon, and tons and
tons of burned forest, finally ending with a view of intact forest
around Tikal and Uaxactun.

A high impact flight. We discussed with him our concerns re the dam, re
the PPP road or Mundo Maya passing from Tikal to Uaxactun to Mexico. And
we suggested that if a big artery is needed to communicate the Peten to
Mexico, then it would make the most sense (environmentally) to place it
where the road is planned for El Naranjo/El Ceibo, at the corner between
Laguna del Tigre and Lacandon....that entire area is already trashed as
it is. Mitigation would be needed, but the risk of env. catastrophe
there would certainly be lower. Al fin, the Amb pledged support for our
efforts. It seemed sincere. FYI, this man is a career diplomat....he
obviously must toe the line on some things, such as the policies in
middle east and Iraq, but he is a life long birder, and lover of nature.
Was in Peru as US Amb during the fall of Fujimori....read into this that
he is a strong Ambassador, and has been sent to Gua to solve problems. I
wish him the best....he certainly has his work cut out for him. Now that
Nicaragua is being cleansed by the Saintly President Enrique
Bolanyos....with Aleman in jail (!!!!), Guatemala is clearly the biggest
bruise remaining on America's sexy thin wasteline.

Regarding the Jaguar study, we are kicking it off this month. Joe is
headed to Peten today, and will start mapping the Macabilero area next
week I believe. I am trying to purchase and transport to Peten some
camera traps, and we expect to start trapping in mid August or Sept.
Some small delays, but still on track. We expect to execute 3 separate
2-month trapping sessions over the span of a year, say from Sept 2003 -
August 2004. Each 2 month trap session will provide us with a figure for
the number of distinct individual Jaguars detected in the area, this
based on their unique spot patterns. The sessions are limited to 2
months to avoid violating the important assumption that there is no
ex/in-migration from/into the areaduring the time of the study. The
three sessions will be averaged to provide one number which includes
changes in Jag density during different seasons, over time, etc. Some
data on the abundance of game species, deer, game birds, will also be
collected via line transects to allow us to compare the richness of the
Macabilero area with the good data set we already have from line
transects around La Quetzal (UMI), and Los Pozitos, just ENE of Bethel.
So, this is where the Jag study in Macabilero stands, now getting
underway. Will have a lot more information on this in about 4-5 weeks
after returning to Peten and talking to Joe.

Lastly, last week I received a map of the areas to be flooded by the
dams on the Usumacinta. This was a projection made by Joep Luitjen, of
NRDC, and Ari Hershowitz. It shows the impacts according to various dam
heights, per the dam locations selected....one clear thing is that the
Macabilero area where we plan to study Jags would be very very
threatened. I suggest y'all get in touch with Joep (really really great
guy), and ask him for a copy of this map, as well as the map of the
projected deforestation resulting from a highway from Tikal north to
Mexico.