| And while we had the opportunity, we asked General David Jones about his recent meeting with Guatemalan Vice Admiral Carlos Thomas. He was the ranking officer from the Guatemalan Navy who led his officers in an incursion into Belizean Territory on Sunday, August 16th when they tried to block the Belize Territorial Volunteers from visiting the Sarstoon Island.
That prompted a protest note from the Government of Belize and an outpouring of anti-Guatemalan sentiment in Belize. It has also revealed that Guatemala treats the Sarstoon as theirs, and regularly tried to intimidate the BDF on their patrols.
In fact, Vice Admiral Thomas told the Guatemalan press that they were out there to stop the Belizeans from asserting sovereignty over Sarstoon Island. Since then, General Jones has spoken to the Vice Admiral, and he shared a few details of their conversation with us:
General David Jones, BDF Commander
"The discussion I had in Colombia with Vice Admiral Thomas, who is responsible for the navy over there is in regards to better communication, in regards to incidents happening inside the Sarstoon. We pledge to work closely with each other and have closer communications, because of lack of communication, things haven't been happening as either side would like it. Belizeans were being harassed apparently by the navy and they were not aware of what actually was happening in the area and because of their concern, they wanted to ensure that Belizeans or anyone who would go into the Sarstoon would respect their laws if they inadvertently go over to their side of the Sarstoon. So based on that we've had discussion and we've decided that we will try and communicate more effectively. So we've exchanged numbers, so we can speak to each other immediately if there is something occurring or if there is a plan event, where we going to do some exercise or some operation in the area, we share information with each other and if they are going to do certain operations in the area, they are going to do the same with us - they are going to passed it to us and let us know."
Daniel Ortiz
"In the course of discussions, was the topic ever brought up of the aggressive tactics that the Guatemalan navy employed in that Sarstoon trip by the Territorial Volunteers? Because I know that they still feel bruised by that. They think that that was an outward show of aggression."
General David Jones, BDF Commander
"In regards to the Territorial Volunteers, as they understand it that the Territorial Volunteers intend to go and exert their Belizean sovereignty on the Sarstoon Island and I have expressed before, they have a problem with that. They believe the island belongs to them. So they would take offence of them going in there to put a flag on what they believe is Guatemalan territory. They don't want a situation to be provoked. They were given directive to stop such activity from occurring and they will continue with that same directive, because as they have been directed, that island belongs to them. So it is best for mediation to happen, for us to have something formalize that this is the way things should operate in the Sarstoon, which included the Sarstoon Island. Because they want to corporate with us, we want to corporate with them. But it doesn't make sense to try and provoke a situation, because in our eyes the Sarstoon Island belongs to us. There are opposing views. So it's better to have it formalize and then let us go forward with that."
We'll have more in the news from the General as he responds to an accusation from COLA and other quarters that he is being used as a pawn by the Barrow Administration to try to swing support in the UDP's favor.
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