<div id="attachment_115328" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width:310px;"><a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Resident-on-Racism.jpg"><imgclass="size-medium wp-image-115328" title="Erlinda Nunez" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Resident-on-Racism-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Erlinda Nunez</p></div>
<p><strong>The race card, as we’ve mentioned in our coverage of this incident, is on prominent display, having been played by Rupert Myles in the wake of his detention on Saturday. His opinion that he is the victim of racial discrimination by the Mayas is a sentiment that is also echoed elsewhere in Toledo. Outside of the courtroom on Wednesday, onlookers voiced similar points of view on the volatile issues of land ownership and racism.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Erlinda Nunez, Resident, Punta Gorda</strong></p>
<p><em>“We need land too. So we cannot get land out here because the Mayan people are out here, we cannot get land in the villages because Mayan people are there too. So what is left for the rest of the country? What is left? I don’t think that we should focus this on government because this is happening right here in town. This is happening right here in the villages. This young lady has a story, a personal story that she talks about her husband being attacked because he is not black, he is not Mayan but he was Hispanic. So I think you should listen to her too because it’s not only a black thing. It’s a Mestizo thing, it’s an East Indian thing, it’s anything as long as you’re not Mayan, you are violating when you go in the villages.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The group of Santa Cruz residents and Coc will go back to court in July. There are two others that were not present in court for the arraignment. </strong></p>
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<p><strong>The race card, as we’ve mentioned in our coverage of this incident, is on prominent display, having been played by Rupert Myles in the wake of his detention on Saturday. His opinion that he is the victim of racial discrimination by the Mayas is a sentiment that is also echoed elsewhere in Toledo. Outside of the courtroom on Wednesday, onlookers voiced similar points of view on the volatile issues of land ownership and racism.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Erlinda Nunez, Resident, Punta Gorda</strong></p>
<p><em>“We need land too. So we cannot get land out here because the Mayan people are out here, we cannot get land in the villages because Mayan people are there too. So what is left for the rest of the country? What is left? I don’t think that we should focus this on government because this is happening right here in town. This is happening right here in the villages. This young lady has a story, a personal story that she talks about her husband being attacked because he is not black, he is not Mayan but he was Hispanic. So I think you should listen to her too because it’s not only a black thing. It’s a Mestizo thing, it’s an East Indian thing, it’s anything as long as you’re not Mayan, you are violating when you go in the villages.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The group of Santa Cruz residents and Coc will go back to court in July. There are two others that were not present in court for the arraignment. </strong></p>
View the full article
