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Here's what they had to say:

Jules Vasquez reporting
At 9:07 this morning, The Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage - delivered eighteen thousand signatures in two seasonally appropriate gift boxes to the Governor General's office.

Audrey Matura Shepherd, Vice- President, OCEANA
"This is his assistant as is protocol we made the proper appointment and handed over and we got the letter signed that we officially at 9:10am put into effect the new referendum act as amended 25 April, 2008."

Tanya Williams Thompson - Coordinator, Coalition
"This morning OCEANA in Belize of behalf of the Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage delivered 18,000 signatures to the Governor General of Belize."

"We are calling for the following referendum question to be answered; "Do you agree to oil exploration and drilling offshore and in its protected areas?""

Making much of the symbolism of the season, the gift boxes were brought into the press conference and the eighteen thousand signatures were stacked on the desk:

Audrey Matura Shepherd
"We the people of this country have a legitimate expectation that the government will honor the law and its promise in the National Assembly - the highest seat of power, when they told us the people that once we got 10% of registered voters to sign a petition there must be automatically and asthmatically a referendum and that the Governor General is obliged and therefore as we trigger this today we will sit back to see where the good will is and that's why we have these boxes to represent that this is a gift to the people of this nation."

And the Coalition is also expecting a gift - that it will be held on March seventh, the same day as municipal elections:

Audrey Matura Shepherd
"Yes we envisioned all kind of things will happen, we can't say but we are still very confident that despite all our efforts to privately communicate with the government at all levels that the true spirit of Christmas and giving and goodwill will come forth and that the government will not hinder the process of the Governor General. One and two; that when these signatures reaches the Chief Elections Officer that person will maintain its integrity and continue the process as mandated by the law."

"Like I said we would never dare tell the Prime Minister when to call an election but if they do call it then it makes the work easier. It saves a lot more. But that is really a political position for the government."

And in a room where uniformed supporters made a strong presence even carrying placards, the rhetoric was on cue:

Geovanni Brackett - COLA
"The coalition stands very strong. We understand fully that the task ahead of us now to win a referendum will be very hard. We don't underestimate ourselves because we have been gathering support from the very grassroots people who understand that livelihood is at risk. If we were to have an oil spill God knows what would happen to our supper and so we stand strong and united together both grassroots, professional organizations who are under the umbrella of the Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage and I want to say that I am proud to be a member of this coalition. COLA is proud to be a member of this coalition. BTIA is proud to be a member of this coalition."

But a referendum is like an election, and in any election, there are no sure things - and even if they do win, there's no guarantees government will do anything:

Audrey Matura Shepherd
"Yes people have been asking what we will do with the referendum? We've allowed enough time for all the diplomacy, all the dialogue. If we reach at this point today it's because we felt we've exhausted all possibilities and I think this was the last blow for us. We have a new chairman because we are a democratic institution and so we had a new chairman who as upon taking office wrote an email as we've done in the past requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister and this is the reply from the Prime Minister's secretary on his behalf. it says "the Prime Minister Barrow will not be able to meet you in this capacity, governments position is clear, you must proceed with your referendum and government will proceed with the work of the Ministry of Natural Resources in elaborating safeguards to open exploration offshore and in natural parks.""

"So we've placed with our backs against the wall."

Geovanni Brackett - COLA
"It is a risk of winning and there is a risk that you will lose but what we do know is that it's the best instrument to hear the voice of the people and it would be painful to think that any political leader of any day within our modern time would undermine such process of democracy."

But what happens if they do win and government ignores the outcome?

Geovanni Brackett - COLA
"The phrase "all hell breaks loose" comes to mind. Yes Mr. Vasquez, but I'll tell you if you have majority in a referendum voting for something and a government refuses to listen to its people, then isn't it a dictatorship that we are heading into? I am just saying to you Mr. Vasquez with all due respect and you can call it all pretty words as you want if I were a Prime Minister I wouldn't want to go up against a nation's will."

Audrey Matura Shepherd
"We will not give you all our tactics; we are not here to discuss all of that. We've consider many eventualities and we know that we'll have to act. But just be assured that we've been very diplomatic, we've shuffled papers behind the scene, we've made calls, we've sent emails, and we've sent letters. We as a people movement have taken all the proper stages and steps. When the time comes for us to be even more drastic we will be, we've always said that."

And today - they also said that they won't be buying votes or spending any money on the process:

Jules Vasquez
"Elections are won with money."

Audrey Matura Shepherd
"Really, you have evidence of that? Because we would love to see. So it's won by money by people being paid to vote, because we would not do that."

Geovanni Brackett - COLA
"I want to believe that my people have grown and are mature and we are not illiterate, we might be poor but we are not desperate, we are not foolish. We understand what an oil spill can do and we understand what can be done and we understand what has not been done in the way that we have carried ourselves over the years and we will believe in our people that we will not sell our vote our heritage but that we will vote against offshore drilling."

Jules Vasquez
"From a mechanical perspective administer a successful election campaign."

Audrey Matura Shepherd
"Well it is a people's movement; it is grassroots, so it has to be one that the people believe that they need to do this. We will not bribe people into coming out. It has to be the will of the people."

"We will not sit here and become political pundits and going to have the machinations to get a vote. This nation has to mature and it is a people's movement thing. We will call on every organization, every individual who has a conscience and believe this is of importance to step forward. We need to teach the political parties that you can get the support of the people without belittling them and buying them out."

As mentioned in the story, the written request also asks the Governor General to allow for the offshore oil referendum to be held on the same day as the municipal elections, March 7, 2012.