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We were there on Blue Marlin Drive in Belize City - and here's what happened.

Jules Vasquez Reporting

Foreign minister Wilfred Elrington captioned here as a "Traitor" and a "Judas" and the OAS were the targets of derision and contempt today in a provocative protest by COLA -

an effort to send a message to both Washington and Belmopan - all from Blue Marlin Drive in Belize City, site of the local OAS Office.

Only about 10 COLA members gathered - but what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in fiery declarations:

Geovanni Brackett - President, COLA
"COLA called this brief press conference in front of the office for the Organization of America States, OAS, because of its recent statement concerning the death of a armed Guatemalan in the line of fire from our armed forces. However, in two statements issued by the OAS, they said that it happened near the border and the second one - a correction, which is no correction; it is inaccurate - that it occurred in the adjacency zone. And we think this is outrageous; we are outraged at COLA for this statement."

Jihad McLaren - Director of Security, COLA
"Our country is being encroached by the enemy. Our BDF soldiers are doing what we pay them to do. What they are trained to do is to defend the boundaries and borders, and we have elements of infiltration that is saying to us that we are not carrying out what is right within our borders. I think that the OAS must understand that we as Belizeans, we are prepared to defend our nation by any means necessary."

Geovanni Brackett
"And so, what we are saying is that Belize may not be an Israel. We may not be a United States, but we are a sovereign nation. We have are people and we have blood running in our veins. We settled here, and this is our property. And no way on God's green - how the hell could they treat us like this, without re-issuing a correction, and making matters worse, the reason why we have this here with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sedi Elrington - the reason why we have this, if you notice, at the top it marks 'traitor' and the bottom marked 'Judas' - we don't like to get personal, but when you can defend an inaccurate statement issued by the Secretary General of the OAS, you are telling me that you are no longer Belizean. You need to move. Pack your things and go to Guatemala. You can't defend the rights of our People? You can't stand up for Belizeans? Who pays you? When it comes to Belize - any one of these diplomats - they enjoy our blue waters, and they enjoy our scenery. And as soon as Guatemala says something, they hurry and run to go take their side. That cannot be the case any longer. We cannot be the ones who are always compromising our situation, always giving or conceding. We have to now take a stand that we have to demand from - whether it's the OAS, the United Nations, or any international entity, because it starts first here in the mentality, how you view yourselves. If you want to view yourself as a third-world country, then any crap can be pushed down your throat. But we are COLA; we don't view ourselves as any third-world country, or a developing nation. We are a nation, and we expect to be treated as equal to anybody else. But the OAS continues to show favors. Look at the amount of incursions. Now the guys, not only are extracting our Xate, our timber, but now our gold, and at the same time, destroying the reef. How much more can we take? And the river, they have completely altered the river? How much more can we or should we take? Should we say that it's acceptable? They must now accept our rage that is reaching 150 degrees. Right now it's slightly over a hundred, but when it flies over and hit Belmopan, they will then get the sense. We are not into any 'long talking' when it comes to our country and our borders. You are talking about altering the river; we'll alter Belmopan after this."

Patrick Jones - Love News
"Geovanni, even as you speak, I noticed that the OAS officials are bailing out. They're leaving. The office door has been closed."

Geovanni Brackett
"They need to get out of the country! We would want them to bail out if they are not on our side - we're not even asking them to take our side, what we are asking for, is for them to be fair. That's all we are asking for. Be fair. Show some courtesy and decency. Issue a statement of correction. Apologize to the Belizean people. Are we too poor for them to apologize to us?"

After all that verbal vitriol - it was time for the real fire - they doused the placards and flag with kerosene, put fire to fabric, and after that it was on - a bonfire of rage - staged to offend the OAS, and send a message - by smoke signals, maybe - to Belmopan.

Geovanni Brackett
"We are not going to any ICJ, if it is left up to COLA, because we already see that the OAS already has partiality to Guatemala. It is evident. They only way that they can defend against that, is to issue a statement of correction, a retraction, and an apology to Belize because we are no stupid nation."

Patrick Jones
"What do you hope to achieve by standing up in front of the OAS office this morning."

Geovanni Brackett
"We hope that they will have some sense of conscience to understand that there are people in Belize who are unhappy with their statement. That's the first thing. And if you see that they refuse out of arrogance to issue a statement of correction, it then tells me that maybe, we need to remove this office from here. We don't need to stand up in front of here. We need to take it down to the ground by any means necessary. But we at least are hoping that they have some sort of dignity and conscience to try to say, 'You know what, let's appease the people of Belize, and give some sort of explanation.' Do the right thing."

Belize's diplomats indicated on Friday that they would ask the OAS to make a correction on the Adjacency Zone error - but five days later, that has not been forthcoming and, even with all this, there is no reason to expect that it will.