And while COLA is leading the charge against the referendum in Belize, they got some heavy fuel from the Prensa Libre paper in Guatemala today - which published an image of the full Guatemalan claim to Belize. Now it's a matter of fact - and one that has never changed, but most Belizeans, on seeing it, would recoil in disgust: they're claiming half the country!
But going beyond emotion, Guatemala is looking very closely at Belize's referendum process, and they've zeroed in on Belize's referendum law.
According to referendum act, a successful referendum must have 60% voter participation for the result to be binding, which means that if the threshold is not met, then the referendum is null and void.
And that's what the Prensa Libre article was about: that with the 60% restriction, it puts Guatemala at a disadvantage.
The article questions whether or not Belize has acted in good faith with that amendment, which came months before the signing of the Special Agreement between the two countries.
While the newspaper, may have taken the amendment out of context, it is consequential because the referendum is expensive, and it has to be sponsored by other countries, which may be skeptical of the process because it is hard to mobilize 60% of the voter population without the involvement of the political parties.
Belize's Ambassador to Guatemala and Prime Minister Barrow addressed those concerns after today's ceremony, in light of the publication.
H. E. Fred Martinez - Belize Ambassador to Guatemala
"Well, it is a cause for concern that it has been aired out in the press now in Guatemala, but we have explained to them that 1, it is our internal process, our internal legislation. Some elements in Guatemala have tried to - the way the Prensa Libre article was headlined today - that if we frustrating the process by having put in this 60% requirement of voter participation prior, and that we did it knowingly, just before we signed the Special Agreement, that we changed the law. And they look at as, 'Hey, you are not acting in good faith.' That is really the accusation. Our response has been that that was something that was on the books, in the pipeline in the National Assembly way before we started negotiating the Special Agreement. It had nothing to do with the Belize-Guatemala issue. The law reflects a 60% participation in whatever referendum, not only the Belize-Guatemala process. So, don't accuse us of having twisted the whole version, and putting the 60% requirement just prior to."
Jose Sanchez - Channel 5 News
"Ambassador, do you feel this process to be derailed by this knowledge that the Guatemalans have now."
H. E. Fred Martinez
"No, I don't think it can. I think that they have expressed their concern. Certain elements within their Referendum Commission have been expressing that it is not a level playing field, they don't have any restrictions. Belize now has a 60% voter participation. The whole process can be killed by saying, 'Well, don't go out and vote.' And if people don't go out and vote, the whole process fails. Why is it that they must tolerate that? That is the Guatemalan version. 'Why should we spend so much money on holding a referendum, knowing very well that it could be killed by a technicality?'"
Prime Minister Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"They misunderstand the sequence of events. I get the impression that they are under the mistaken view that this is a provision that we put into the law after the referendum was agreed. As you know, this was a provision that's been there since 2008. I can tell you that it is part of the Referendum Act. It is part of the laws of this country, and there is absolutely no intention to amend the laws of this country in that regard. Listen, I don't want to appear to be insensitive to what you are telling me are international concerns, but I want to make clear that the law of our land is the law of our land. And we will proceed in accordance with the law of our land."
Guatemala's referendum law does not have any limit restrictions, which means that whatever their results are in the October 6 referendum, it is binding.
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