CROCODILE SANCTUARY BURNED IN TOLEDO, BELIZE, ALLEGEDLY BY ‘MAYA MOB’ INCITED BY LOCAL ‘FORTUNETELLER’ FOLLOWING DISAPPEARANCE OF TWO LOCAL CHILDREN
The American Crocodile Education Sanctuary (ACES) facility near Punta Gorda, Toledo District, Belize, operated as a volunteer reptile rescue and rehab center by a young American couple, Vince Rose and wife Cherie Renee Chenot-Rose, was burned to the ground early Sunday, September 5. From news reports, a group of about 100 villagers from San Marcos village, armed with rifles, shotguns and machetes, came to the ACES property on Water Hole Road in the Forest Home area when the couple was away, looking for two missing children they believed were at the ACES facility. The ACES caretaker was frightened to go to the facility and protect it due to the mob of villagers.
The villagers reportedly shot some of the crocodiles and the property was set ablaze, burning down the owners’ home, laboratory and two guest cabañas. The buildings, reportedly valued at BZ$1 million, were totally destroyed. They were not insured.
Two young Maya children, Benjamin and Onelia Rash, 9 and 11, from San Marcos village, had gone missing earlier in the week, after being in Punta Gorda selling craboo and limes. A local fortuneteller or “psychic” allegedly had claimed that the missing children had been fed to the crocodiles at ACES. Punta Gorda police, acting on charges by the oracle, had been to the crocodile facility but had found nothing linking it to the children’s disappearance. Police had been notified that there was a risk that villagers would burn the ACES facility but were unable to do anything because they apparently feared two barking dogs at ACES.
Cherie Chenot-Rose posted this to her Facebook page on September 5: “ACES no longer exists. While Vince and I were on Ambergris Caye rescuing three problematic crocodiles for the Belize Forest Department, two children went missing from a village near Punta Gorda. The local Maya villagers believed that Vince and I fed the missing children to the crocs. We were not even there, as I stated, but were on Ambergris Caye. As a lynch mob, the villagers burnt ACES / American Crocodile Education Sanctuary to the ground. The status of the crocodiles is unknown because the fire is so hot the Belize Defense Forces cannot get to the property. No one has been arrested. Vince and Cherie are now homeless and do not have anything to [our] name. Everything was lost. Our lives have been threatened if we return to Punta Gorda. We do not even know if our dogs survived.”
Since the incident, the media, online forums and the jungle telegraph have been alive with charges back and forth. From one perspective it has been viewed as a version of the Frankenstein story, with villagers marching on the doctor's house with pitchforks. From another perspective it has been viewed as the unfortunate legacy of decades and centuries of racism and ill treatment of the indigenous people of the region. And from another perspective it has been treated as gringos not fitting in with the local culture. There are other views as well, ranging from the burning being simply an accident caused by a heat wave to the welfare of dangerous reptiles being put ahead of the welfare of children.
The story has been picked up by U.S. and international media, including CNN. Tourism interests in Belize are scrambling to control the damage to the country's fragile tourism economy.
In response to a television reporter’s question soon after the fire, Vince Rose said: “It's just unacceptable that a pre-meditated group of savages - and they are not human beings, they are savages - they should not even be out on the streets. They should all be in prison because they are not human beings.” These comments have been taken by many Belizeans as proof of the anti-Mayan views of the Roses.
Police and the Punta Gorda Fire Service are investigating the fire as possible arson. Vince Rose has said publicly he plans to bring legal action against individuals involved for attempted murder, arson and trespassing.
The two children who went missing August 30 near Punta Gorda have so far not been found, despite a massive hunt by as many as 100 Belize police in Toledo and Stann Creek districts. On August 31, the Belize police reported the following: “The whereabouts of two minors from San Marcos Village, Toledo is unknown at this time and Police are seeking the public’s assistance in locating them. On the 31/8/10 Pedro Rash, a 38 year old farmer of San Marcos Village Toledo District, reported that at about 6:30am on the 30/8/10, he and his two children; Benjamin Rash, 11 yrs and Onelia Rash, 9 yrs both students of San Marcos Village; left towards the San Marcos Junction along with his father. On the way they were met by their uncle Domingo Rash where their father left them in his uncle care as he was heading towards Punta Gorda Town. However, up to the time of making the report none of the children have arrived home as yet. The description of the children are as follows: Benjamin is about 5ft in height, weighs about 65 lbs, slim built, narrow face, Brown complexion and was last seen wearing a blue T. Shirt with red sleeve and a black short pants with a pair of green slippers while his sister; Onelia Rash is about 3 ft 6 inches in height, weighs about 55 lbs, broad face, straight black shoulder length hair, brown complexion and was last seen wearing a white and red blouse, black skirt, and had no slippers. Both children are of Maya Descent, and were last seen by their uncle Domingo Rash at Hope Ville area in Punta Gorda.”
In Guatemala, attacks by groups of Maya on foreigners and local people who are believed to be responsible for kidnapping children or stealing them for adoption or for harvesting organs long have been fairly common. In one incident in 2007, a mob of 500 near Chicaman, Quiche, seized two foreigners including one American, along with a local person, who they believed to be involved in child abductions, but later released them without harm. Also in 2007, in Sayaxche, Petén, rumors escalated into mob action against a Guatemalan couple believed to be involved in child stealing. The husband was beaten and burned to death, and the wife threatened but released. The U.S. State Department warns travelers in rural areas of Guatemala to avoid close contact with local children and not to photograph them without permission.
ACES was located on 36 acres on the Rio Grande River. Rose and Chenot-Rose came to Belize six years ago and had built the facility themselves. The not-for-profit organization was involved in researching and protecting the estimated 10,000 to 20,000 wild American Saltwater Crocodiles still remaining worldwide. ACES helped fund the work by offering two eco-tourism cabañas, powered by solar and wind. The organization’s future now is unclear, though there has been discussion of it relocating to Ambergris Caye.
--Lan Sluder
Belize First
http://www.belizefirst.com
