Media Center

Press Release


BELIZE-GUATEMALA: OAS GENERAL SECRETARIAT COORDINATES THE RESETTLEMENT OF FAMILIES FROM THE SANTA ROSA COMMUNITY

  February 5, 2008

On February 4th, 2008, three new families from Guatemala were voluntarily transferred from the Santa Rosa Community, located on the Adjacency Zone administered by Belize, to a housing complex on a farm acquired in the locality of Poptún, in the Department of Petén, Guatemala.

With the transfer of these three families, the resettlement efforts achieved the relocation of 11 out of 17 families that lived in the Santa Rosa Community. The relocation efforts are expected to conclude by the end of this month when the 6 remaining families are transferred.

The Santa Rosa Community Resettlement project is carried out by the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) in accordance with the Agreement on a Framework of Negotiation and Confidence Building Measures between Belize and Guatemala, signed by Belize, Guatemala and the OAS Secretary General on September 7, 2005. The OAS Santa Rosa Community Resettlement Project received financial support from the governments of Spain, the United States, Mexico, Great Britain and Turkey.


******

Reference: E-025/08