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Will Police/Coast Guard Block PUP’s Sarstoon Expedition?
Fri, May 20, 2016
So, while the PUP has to wait an entire month to have their lawsuit against the Government heard, it's possible that their other planned Sarstoon action might not happen. Our information is that security forces will attempt to stop them from leaving Punta Gorda Town by boat - same as they did the Belize Territorial Volunteers 17 days ago.

So, is the PUP prepared for that possibility? Here's what the Opposition Leader had to say:

Reporter
"I've gotten it on good grounds that the national executive will be stopped tomorrow. Will not even be allowed to go on the waters - will be stopped in PG by elements of the Coast Guard and the police. Are you surprised to hear something like that?"

Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the PUP
"Well I'd be most disappointed in the government and in the Prime Minister, because the Prime Minister last week made a pronouncement that he would lift the tight restrictions on Belizeans visiting the Sarstoon as long as you report to the B.D.F.'s Forward Operating Base. We are saying it is not a political trip, it is an educational trip. We believe that we need to go firsthand to look at what is taking place to have a better understanding. In our trip to the Sarstoon we are not calling the masses to go. We are inviting the National Executive and the Parliamentarians. In effect it is the leadership of the P.U.P. that is going. We want to act responsibly and to control the numbers that are going. We are going there in peace and as law-abiding citizens. The Prime Minister has said that we can go, and I would be most disappointed if the Prime Minister were to take back his word."

Reporter
"The SI speaks specifically about the Sarstoon, entry into the Sarstoon. But what we have seen is that elements of the Coast Guard have been stopping people from even leaving the pier in Barranco and we understand that they will be stopping the National Executive from even leaving PG, effectively from going into the seas. Is that even a further abuse of it?"

Andrew Marshalleck, SC - PUP Legal Advisor
"The schedule to the SI gives some GPS coordinate and I am not sure how far they extend out. Certainly if it is that the law enforcement is acting to restrain people's free movement, to restrict movement even outside those coordinates, then they themselves will be acting in breach of the law."

As we told you, we'll be there to see how it all plays out in PG, and we'll have updates on our facebook page, and a blow-by-blow account on Tuesday's newscast.

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