5 - The Enemy Within: Hispanics and the Threat of Maya Raids, 1867–1880

Summary

If the first two decades of the Caste War raised anxieties in Belize concerning “savages” – rival Maya groups who were engaged in hostilities in neighboring Yucatán – the period between 1867 and 1882 saw this fear magnified by the perception that a much viler enemy lived within Belizean borders. Between 1867 and 1872, three major Maya raids would rock Belize, causing racial tensions to surface in a manner that was unprecedented. Taking these Maya raids as critical moments, this chapter explores how cross-border raids fueled by interethnic alliances (whether real or suspected) between Yucatecans living in the British colony and the Icaiche Maya threatened the colony and thwarted official attempts to control and contain the northern frontier of Belize. With limited means to fight the raiders, Belizean officials turned inward, redirecting their frustration and suspicions at Yucatecan refugees living in the colony. Uneasy relations with Hispanics, inherited from a long history of hostility between Great Britain and Spain, contributed to the sense of paranoia among official circles. Despite an almost decade-long period of relative calm and stability beginning in 1872, the perception of Hispanics as a threat to society did not altogether subside.