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He told us about the purpose of his visit:

Fernando Carrera, Guatemala Foreign Minister
"We have conversation on two issues that we shared with the Minister and his colleagues and advisors what is known as the political situation of the referendum of Guatemala and the political climate. The second thing is since this is my first visit to ensure that we will continue to have the positive relationship we have had in the past and that we will work to strengthen that relationship."

Jules Vasquez
"How concern is your country about the threshold that Belize has on its referendum: the 60% threshold?"

Fernando Carrera, Guatemala Foreign Minister
"It has been a concern but as it is in politics we have understood that that is your role and that is the way you want to solve this situation the referendum. Although we have a concern that it is a very difficult threshold to reach for any country not just for Belize but for any country. We will have lots of problems in Guatemala to reach that threshold and maybe that's part of our concern because we haven't been able to do that in the past. But it's your decision and it's your rules, you legal framework."

Jules Vasquez
"Are we still moving forward inexorably towards October 6th, 2013?"

Fernando Carrera, Guatemala Foreign Minister
"I think what we are doing is accessing the situation. Definitely there is a legal commitment to go to the 6th of October and I don't think anyone unilaterally or even in a bilateral political way cannot do that, but definitely we need to access the situation so that we are sure that the final results is what we expect it to be which is to go to the ICJ because the original idea was not to hold a referendum, it was to go to the ICJ and that's the agreement we have and we are very happy both Belize and Guatemala that that is the agreement we have."

Jules Vasquez
"Did he ask certainly diplomatic as he would be required to if there is a work around for the 60% threshold?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Belize Foreign Minister
"He didn't ask if there is a work around. He did say that they thought certainly initially that it was a tall order for us. He was prepared to be respectful of our own process and our own confidence in being able to achieve that turn out."

Jules Vasquez
"His government is under scrutiny now for entering a process that may well be still born because we may never see the ICJ because of Belize's high threshold for the referendum. Is the internal pressure they are under, is that making Guatemala having second thoughts or cold feet about going into a referendum in which one party has a different level of proof than the other?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Belize Foreign Minister
"I didn't get the sense from what they said that they were concern about the fact that we have a higher threshold than them of going to the ICJ. I did get the sense from them that they are continually accessing the situation as it relates to the possible result of a referendum on their side. But not that the threshold that is laid down in Belize law was really causing them to have a problem. They had other issues relating to their own people, educating their own people."

Jules Vasquez
"On October 6th 2013 will we have a referendum?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Belize Foreign Minister
"I am an eternal optimist Jules. My feeling right now is that we will have a referendum on that date. Certainly it is my sincerest hope that we will have one on that date."

Jules Vasquez
"If you were a realist and not an optimist, would you still so feel?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Belize Foreign Minister
"I would like to think so, Jules."

Carrerra has been the foreign minister for about a month, replacing his predecessor, Harold Caballeros who had antagonized Belize-Guatemala relations with some provocative remarks at the official level.