Endangered species, a country trying to fight a drug war and the lousy petroleum industry makes it easier for the cartels to travel through the jungle.
The oil derricks don't belong there. I wish the American petroleum industry would respect the sovereignty of countries like Belize. Their jungles and species protections are vital to their tourism industry. Belize is just beginning to recover from the 2008 economic crash. This year saw better tourism than any year since 2008 and now this. The country doesn't need it !
This article is appearing in "Mongobay.com" a travel sight that promotes tourism.
...These are seismic lines, (click title to entry - thank you) cut on the orders of US Capital Energy, and the normally silent Temash and Sarstoon rivers are buzzing with river traffic as their workers are transported to cut new lines. The comfra palms are protected as their fruit provide food for the large, cow-like peccary, but they, in their herds of 50-60, have deserted the area since the oil company commenced its explorations.
We trek through the jungle for several hours, crossing the only known low-lying sphagnum moss bog in Central America, before arriving at our rendezvous on the Temash River. The seismic lines are cut clear to the river’s edge – this is another infringement of the regulations which mandated leaving a ‘buffer’ of rainforest, but makes our departure far easier – the mangroves abutting the river present a major barrier to those seeking to enter or leave the rainforest, particularly those in possession of illegal rosewood.
Making the dense, frequently impassable jungle into a network of straight paths with access to the rivers poses a danger that has already been borne out on the lines where cutting work has been completed and which now lie silent; the previous patrol discovered new trails branching off these seismic lines to newly felled hardwood stumps. Many lines lead directly to the Guatemalan border – the home of the many armed gangs who enter the park to poach resources, and equipped as they are with radios, can now escape more easily from the Belizean authorities....
We trek through the jungle for several hours, crossing the only known low-lying sphagnum moss bog in Central America, before arriving at our rendezvous on the Temash River. The seismic lines are cut clear to the river’s edge – this is another infringement of the regulations which mandated leaving a ‘buffer’ of rainforest, but makes our departure far easier – the mangroves abutting the river present a major barrier to those seeking to enter or leave the rainforest, particularly those in possession of illegal rosewood.
Making the dense, frequently impassable jungle into a network of straight paths with access to the rivers poses a danger that has already been borne out on the lines where cutting work has been completed and which now lie silent; the previous patrol discovered new trails branching off these seismic lines to newly felled hardwood stumps. Many lines lead directly to the Guatemalan border – the home of the many armed gangs who enter the park to poach resources, and equipped as they are with radios, can now escape more easily from the Belizean authorities....
