As you heard in one of those 5 resolutions, the PUP is calling out the Government for excluding the Opposition’s Representative in the recent bilateral talks. They’ve interpreted that as a “suspensionâ€￾ of the bipartisan effort on the Belize/Guatemala Territorial Dispute. 

Yesterday, when the Prime Minister was asked about the absence of the Opposition Leader’s Representative in the Bilateral Talks happening in Washington DC, he said there was nothing sinister about it. According to the PM it was only that the Government wasn’t given any kind of notice to make arrangements:

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Now we had been trying  before Monday in fact pretty much all weekend to set up the meeting and the Foreign Minister who was to overnighted in Miami on Sunday and to come back to Belize on Monday was asked to hold on in Miami so that we could make certain that we would get these meetings. He was then once the meetings were confirmed asked to go directly from Miami to Washington. Alexis Rosado was in Guatemala and I think I spoke to him either Saturday or Sunday at which time again the meetings were not confirmed but I nevertheless told him to make preparations to be immediately available for travel should the meetings be confirmed. That is the reason why in such an incredibly fluid moment by moment situation we did not get a chance to involve the opposition."

The Reason that Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington able to re-direct to Washington so quickly this weekend for the Bilateral Talks with the OAS, and the Guatemalan Delegation was because he attended the Ninth UK-Caribbean Ministerial Forum which was held in the Bahamas. That happened on last Week Friday and Saturday, and at the end of the two day event, the Ministers and Representatives of the UK and the Caribbean made 37 agreements in the areas of prosperity and sustainable development; global changes; and crime, security, and the rule of law.

One of the agreements says that the UK and Caribbean Nations quote, “support the efforts of Belize and Guatemala under the auspices of the Organization of American States to promote confidence and urge the parties to take the necessary measures to finding a lasting solution to Guatemala’s claims against Belize at the International Court of Justice in accordance with their Special Agreement of 2008.â€￾ End Quote.

That diplo-babble is in stark contrast to the declaration Guyana’s territorial dispute with Venezuela. In their border issues, the UK and the Caribbean Ministers and Representatives say, quote, “…(The) Ministers reaffirmed their unequivocal support for the maintenance and preservation of Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.â€￾ End Quote. 

When Foreign Minister Elrington returns, we hope to ask him if that is a diplomatic failure for Belize since these friendly nations outrightly support Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial Integrity, but is at this time only support Belize taking Guatemala’s territorial dispute to the ICJ.

And in one more piece of news related to Belize’s diplomatic front, we told you how the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland, visited Belize last week for the first time after being elected to the post. 

She was in Belize until Monday and in her meeting with the Prime Minister on Friday, she declared her intention to call an urgent meeting of the ministerial committee on the Belize-Guatemala border dispute.

Well, the Commonwealth has released statement re-affirming Secretary General Scotland’s commitment to call this meeting of the Ministerial Committee. The statement also says, quote, “Secretary-General Scotland reaffirmed the commitment made by the Commonwealth’s 53 governments at their 2015 summit, to fully support Belize’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.â€￾ End Quote.