Tonight, COLA is rattling its sabers again after Belize was disrespected at the OAS earlier this week. It happened on Wednesday at a meeting of the OAS Permanent Council when the Guatemalan Representative Jose Rodrigo Vielmann de Leon shared a video presentation on his country. The video was illustrating his nation's readiness to host the forty-third General Assembly of the OAS in June of this year.
But the video shows a map - where Belize is part of Guatemala. Belize Representative objected strenuously:
H.E. Nestor Mendez, Belize Ambassador to the OAS
"When this video was shown in the General Assembly in Bolivia; the delegation of Belize took the floor and protested the use of a map that shows Belize as part of Guatemala. Subsequent to that we were assured by the Secretariat that they would ensure that whenever this video would be utilized again, that image would be removed. Everybody is aware that Belize and Guatemala have a diferendum that it is being dealt with under the auspices of the OAS that hopefully it will be resolved at the International Court of Justice but it is still not yet resolved. The use of this video and this image puts in serious jeopardy the process that we have undergoing with the good offices of the General Secretariat of the OAS and Belize cannot accept the use of that video. We protested it at the General Assembly and we once again protest it."
After that the Guatemalan Ambassador explained that there is a dotted line to show Belize's border. And then meeting continued as normal as if no one had said anything, promoting Ambassador Mendez to make another intervention:
H.E. Nestor Mendez, Belize Ambassador to the OAS
"I just want to inform the permanent council that Belize will be formalizing its protest in writing by a diplomatic note. We find the use of that map totally unacceptable. It show Belize and Guatemala in the same color. All the rest of Central America - all the other countries with a different color. The implication is that it is one territory as we prepare to go to the ICJ this provocative use of this map is not acceptable to our delegation and we will be formalizing our protest in writing."
COLA issued a statement today saying that quote, "We warn here and now that the OAS's response to this incident will serve as a measuring stick for how Belizeans treat the OAS from this point forward." They also demand a retraction form Guatemala.
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