Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington made waves his bold address to the United Nations at the end of September. Seeming to adapt a stance of No more Mr. Nice Guy, Elrington called out the Guatemalans for encroaching upon, pillaging and laying waste to Belizean territory. That elicited an angry response from his Guatemalan counterpart Fernando Castellanos. Today, Elrington told us he isn’t moved by it one bit:...
Jules Vasquez
"Fernando Carrera, the Foreign Minister was extremely offended at the address you gave at the United Nations. They sent a 12 point letter of complaint to the OAS. Have you spoken to Mr. Carrera?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I have not spoken to Fernando Carrera and I am not concern to be candid to what Carrera thought of the speech. What concerned me was what Jules Vasquez thought of the speech - I've never heard him made a comment on it. I didn’t say I applaud the Foreign Minister for standing up so robustly for Belize or nothing like that. The
suggestion was that again the Foreign Minister might have messed up because we offended the Guatemalans. I can’t comprehend the mentality of our people and of our media. I speak up in defense of Belize, I spoke the truth, I said what I had told Carrera more than once at the OAS and you know strangely enough I got the impression that the media was taking Guatemala's side. The media was sympathetic with Guatemala and the position of the Guatemalans. What about us? Don’t we have spine? Are we not patriotic? Should we not have join in and said well we thought that was a good representation on the part of our country or that the Foreign Minister was speaking the truth and that the Guatemalans' position has got to be one of unintelligible. That was not said. There was a deafening silence on the part of every media in Belize. I am not surprised."
Elrington says he stands ready to meet with Castellanos at any time, but currently no meeting is planned.
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