So, where do things stand now? Will the non payment force a breakthrough in negotiations? Yesterday, the Prime Minister said that he has reason to be cautiously optimistic.

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I'm glad you made the point that the meetings were with the bondholders. Every time I've gone up before it was to talk to our advisers. This time I met with our advisors but then I met separately with the bondholders represented by the creditor committee, or by the two co-chairs of the creditor committee. The gentleman from Greylock, Mr. Mediratta, who was the one I had spoken to last time when we reached a deal, and Mr. Carl Russ, the other co-chair who represents an organization known as GMO. Tough sledding, extremely draining negotiating session, but never rancorous. And at the end, I believe I can fairly say that the positions between the two sides have been narrowed considerably. Daniel I don't want to put it beyond that. What happens now is that the co-chairs are left with Belize's final position, in respect to which there has been movement to our original position, I concede that right off. And those co-chairs must speak to the rest of the creditor committee and thereafter if they reach a point where they can agree with Belize on something to the larger constituency that creditor committee represents. Let's say there are four of five members on the creditor committee, but altogether they are representatives for something like 66% of the bond holders. We need 75% for any deal to be put over the top. So the first job of the co-chairs of the creditor committee is to reach out to the rest of the committee and thereafter to the entirety of their constituency. That will take a little while. I am cautiously optimistic as I said."

So, how did the Prime Minister justify not making the 26 million dollar payment today? Well, he says that there is a 30-day grace period after the due date, and he is hoping that the bondholders will accept the Government's new deal before then. But, for there to a new deal, the government has to convince 75% of the bondholders. So, what happens if the threshold cannot be met? That's what we asked, and here's how he explained it:

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"In the meantime we won't make the payment on Monday. We couldn't make the payment on Monday because Monday is a holiday. But we won't make it on Tuesday, we won't make it on Wednesday, but nobody need say that we are in default at least not yet, because there is this 30 day grace period. I hope and believe that long before the expiration of that grace period we can reach a final resolution with the bondholders."

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Let's say for example, worst case scenario, they do not accept or we do not reach that 75% threshold, will Belize be able to make that payment within the expiration time period? Will we?"

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Well that's the question. Look, I don't know that I will answer that and I will tell you why. As I said, although it was a very intense discussion, a very intense negotiating session on Thursday, precisely because it never became rancorous, I don't want to say anything to make it appear as though Belize is flinging down the gauntlet. I did feel, I repeat, that by the time we came to the end of that session, great progress had been made. If I said to you now: well listen, no deal is better than a bad deal and if we can't agree, absolutely Belize is not going to pay the coupon and we will default. I think that will poison the atmosphere."

So, was the Government in a stare down with the bondholders to get them to persuade them to move from a firm "no" to a possible "maybe"? We asked the Prime Minister about Government's negotiating tactics:

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"There has been the suggestion from the opposition, and from persons observing, that maybe the government isn't taking a tactic that is in the best practices. The suggestion is, maybe the government's position or the strategy was to force the hand of the bondholders to this narrowing of positions."

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"This is a democracy and I cannot dismiss the opposition, but I will do exactly that. These are the people that got us into the mess we are in. These are the people who borrowed with nothing to show for it. Bundled up a number of these hideous outrageous loans into what became the superbond on conditions that, even at the time that they created the superbond, obviously were not sustainable, but anyway. So they are the last one to talk about strategy and tactic. But to answer your question, we put forward a position that we genuinely felt we could justify, given the circumstances in which the country finds itself and given that on the last occasion the relief we got was based on assumptions that turned out to be faulty, that the facts did not vindicate. So we were convinced that the bondholders needed to accept that this is a two way street. And that in light of changed circumstances there must be a renegotiation. That was all; plain and simple. We were convinced of the justice of our case and of the justice of the position that we put forward and the rest unfolded on the way it has."