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Remember the Special Agreement or Compromis as it was called – which was signed in December of 2008? It was approved by Belize’s parliament shortly after that and there were encouraging signs that it would pass in Guatemala in august of last year after it was approved by that country’s Constitutional Affairs Committee. At the time, Belize’s Ambassador to Guatemala Fred Martinez said that there was a new air of cooperation in the famously fractious Guatemalan congress and the special agreement could be approved by September of 2009. Guess what? It didn’t, and today Martinez told the press it looks like it’s not going to be passed anytime soon.

Fred Martinez, Ambassador to Guatemala
“The Special Agreement which was signed on December 8th, 2008 is still languishing in the Congress of Guatemala. It is not heading anywhere. The scene right now in Congress in Guatemala when it comes to ratification of the Special Agreement does not look too good from our analysis and perspective. Even if the Special Agreement was passed and a referendum convened sometime for later on this year, we do believe that it would be too close to a general election comfort. We do not see it happening soon. But in the meantime we must continue to live with each other and continue to work our relationship under the Confidence Building Measures under the direction of the OAS.”

So with the special agreement on indefinite hold, Belize enters its third rotation and fifth year of the confidence building measures. But there is a wrinkle. Those Confidence Building Measures call for special provisions to apply in the area one kilometer to the east and west of what they call the Adjacency Line – that line is what we in Belize and the rest of the world call the border. The agreement says that all military and police patrols within that area will be coordinated by both countries.