7 News Belize

Guats Sabre-Rattle, Foreign Ministry Cautions, Maheia Unfazed
posted (February 25, 2013)
On Friday we told you about Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington's stern warning to Will Maheia and his Belize Territorial Volunteers about their project called "Clearing Our Borderline". Responding to a formal diplomatic note from the Guatemalans warning that it will cause friction along the border, Elrington said quote, "they could well find themselves arrested by the Guatemalans because there are no clear boundaries (along the border)."

To add to that, today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent out what you might call a cautionary tale: it warns that quote, "any attempt…to clear the Western Border can give rise to serious danger…and we therefore strongly advise against participation in any such action." End quote. It also goes on to revisit an incident in February of 2000 when 3 soldiers and one police officer were arrested by 25 Guatemalan Military as they patrolled near Treetops, south southwest of Jalacte Village.

Despite these warnings, though, Maheai is going right ahead. Today he stopped by our studio to tell us why:..

Will Maheia
"The response has been overwhelming; I am humbled by the amount of support that we are getting throughout the country. I am proud of the Belizean people; they are the ones that motivate us to do what we do. We believe that we need to take care of this country, we need to take care of the country's border, I don't know of any country in the world beside Belize that doesn't have a mark border. I just think that it is our duty and obligation as Belizeans to ensure that our borders are secure. As part of the territorial volunteers - we've been together for a while now. The group that we are a part of has been in existence over a year now, but we've known each other for over ten years now, so we've been going into the forest for a long time just looking at Belize's resources."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, we understand that you have been receiving some pressure from our ministry of Foreign Affairs to cancel the initiative to clear that border line. Can you tell us about that and what is the stage at in which the Ministry of Affairs has contacted you or any member of your organization?"

Will Maheia
"Yes there has been some concern from the Ministry about what we are doing but I believe as Belizeans we have an obligation to our country; we have a right to safeguard the borders of our country and that is exactly what we are doing. We want to ensure that the encroachment stops, that the incursions stop and I believe as Belizeans it is our right, it is our civic duty to ensure that our borders are clear and free and that all of Belize remains Belize."

Daniel Ortiz
"The Minister of Foreign Affairs has spoken to Channel 7 saying that your initiative while nationalistic and patriotic could cause a border incident because there is no clear border, so we don't know where Guatemala starts and where it ends. He is saying that it could cause a friction between our neighbors."

Will Maheia
"I don't expect that there will be a border incident. We will be on the Belize side of the border; we don't have any intention to go into Guatemala. We believe we know where the Belize border is. I would like to invite the Foreign Minister or the people from the Foreign Ministry to come down so that we could visit the border together. I think that it is clear from the days of the British the marker at "Gracias Adios" stands as a marked point where the border is at and we could go north from there. I know we will not be in Guatemalan territory. If Guatemala comes over and try to do us anything that would be basically Guatemala would be infringing on our right as Belizeans to move around freely which the constitution gives us the right to move freely in our country."

Daniel Ortiz
"But at the same time it's an area that's in dispute. What if there is response from the Guatemalan side?"

Will Maheia
"If there is response from Guatemalan side of course we are peaceful people; the people in our group are peaceful and we don't want to cause any confusion but we want to send a strong message that enough is enough - it is time for Belizeans to take back our country, it is time to stand up for what we believe in because on a daily occurrence Guatemalans continue to invade Belize and when will it stop. I think as Belizeans we have to go there. Like I say the group that we are in - we've been together for more than 10 years now and we've known each other for a long time, so we are concern about this and we continue to see in front of our eyes the incursions that are taking place. We believe that our borders have been neglected for too long."

Maheia's effort starts on Saturday at Jalacte.

The press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that under the Confidence Building Measures the parties are committed to avoid conflicts.

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