A REAL MAYA DOOMSDAY

I try to keep my tongue in my cheek when I write about the end of the world. However, the contemporary Maya people in Belize are facing a real life end of the world situation as explained by the Belizean online newspaper:

“The Maya in Belize are the most oppressed and poorest of the poor of our indigenous groups. The current United Democratic Party government has authorized oil drilling and logging in lands sacred to the Maya in southern Belize. It has hired very expensive private lawyers to launch court battles attempting to negate ancestral Maya land rights. And in a gratuitous smack down of the Maya, one of their leaders who has been nominated by non-government organizations to represent their interests in the Senate as the 13th Senator, has been unable to take his seat in the Senate. Why? Because government has refused to formalize a law approved by the House Of Representatives and the Senate to give voice to the (Maya) community.”

Now that is real doom and gloom!

Meanwhile, the Belize Tourist Board is spending a $1 million a month to attract tourists to the End of the World. They are promoting camping at the Maya Pyramid to so you’ll be at ground zero to welcome Armageddon. Or, if you prefer, you can get married atop an ancient Maya ball court. Archaeologists will give tours and there will be celebrations and festivals galore.

And amid all the gaiety and frivolity, the Belizean Maya will watch their heritage despoiled by oilmen (I almost wrote “unscrupulous oilmen,” but then realized that was redundant) and politicians (again, I was going to write “corrupt politicians” and recalled that the phrase, too, is also redundant).