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H. E. Carlos Raul Morales - Guatemalan Foreign Minister
"We agree of the confidence building measures, the first one was in 2000 and the second was in 2005. We took the decision to not increase the military bases in the vicinity of both countries. With the objective to avoid incidents. This moment your Excellency Mr. Elrington we had a very good meeting - an excellent meeting and he told me that this is not going to be a military base. It is going to be a coast guard base that depends on the police. What we want exactly is to avoid incidents. Every time we have an incident, every time a person die in Belize or in Guatemala, there is a very bad spirit against the other country. Then we agree this mooring to work on a protocol between both countries to have control of this area - the Amatique Bay, south by the Sarstoon area."

That answer caught the attention of the Opposition, and today 4 foreign Ministers of the Musa Administration from 1998 to 2008, issued their own joint statement to say that Foreign Minister Morales has misinformed the nation.

You see, the PUP came up with the confidence building measures in the first place, and they say that between 1998 and 2008, the 2 instruments signed on the Confidence Building Measures did not say anything about military bases in either country. The 4 former Foreign Ministers add that during that 10 year period, no decision was ever made between with Guatemala with regard to increasing or removing military bases in both country.

Those are direct contradictions to the Foreign Minister Morales's position, and so today, we asked Senator Lisa Shoman to discuss this very different interpretations. She said that the Foreign Affairs Officials at the Press Conference should have set the record straight:

Lisa Shoman, Former Foreign Affairs Minister
"I heard that and when I heard it I had quite a bit of concern, because of course I do not agree that there is anything in either the 2000 instrument or the 2005 instrument, having to do with confidence building measures between Belize and Guatemala that says anything about military bases. So, as you can see 4 former foreign ministers and one former prime minister have now come out and made a joint statement on the issue, because our recollection was not that as had been put forward by Foreign Minister Carlos different."

Daniel Ortiz
"So is he being untruthful/disingenuous...?"

Lisa Shoman
"I prefer not to speculate on what Foreign Minister Morales is being. I prefer to focus on the fact that there was no agreement between Belize and Guatemala having to do with military bases either in Belize or Guatemala."

Daniel Ortiz
"Does he make a valid, we are tapping into your knowledge experience as a former diplomat of the country, that this issue of building up military pressure at the border is not good for both nations. Is that something..."

Lisa Shoman
"The building of military pressure between any two countries at any of their borders is never good. That's never a situation anybody wants to see. But I cannot see how establishing forward operating bases, conservation posts or observation posts is militarizing our border. I would reject that completely. I can tell you definitively that I recalled Foreign Minister Carlos Morales once raising this issue at a meeting at the OAS and it would have been after I had once again become the Leader of the Opposition's representative. So, I believe that would have been sometime in either 2011 or 2012 and he raised the issue of military bases and that was firmly rejected, as I recalled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and definitely Ambassador Alexis Rosado who is now the CEO, would have been there and I recalled him rejecting this out of hand."

Daniel Ortiz
"So, then why would a foreign ministry not set the record straight? I mean they are right there monitoring this press conference. So they are there when he is making these comments and wouldn't it be in the best interest of our people to properly inform us?"

Lisa Shoman
"One would think so. But I won't speculate on why the foreign ministry said nothing about it. Maybe it just passed foreign ministry officials by."

Viewers may also remember that the Carlos Raul Morales was asked if the Guatemalan Government would consider removing their military base that is already established on the banks of the Sarstoon River - since they are concerned that militarizing the border sends the wrong signal. Here was his answer to that question,:

Geovannie Brackett, reporter
"Will Guatemala remove their military presence from the Sarstoon?"

H. E. Carlos Raul Morales - Guatemalan Foreign Minister
"If you read the confidence building measures, it says that our commitment is to do not build another base after this signature of this instrument. It was signed on 2000. Then we are doing and Belize and Guatemala did it, with respect all the military bases we have in that moment and this is why we didn't remove. This is the only one. I think the other one is in Melchor de Mencos - something like that."

As you've heard, the assurances that the Belize Foreign Affairs Ministry has given their counterparts is that the base will not be a military facility manned by the BDF.

Senator Shoman told us today that when it was being discussed in her time as Minister, it was made clear to the Guatemalans then that it would be a joint facility for the BDF and the Coast Guard. She says that she finds it strange that this compromise is being made when the purpose of the base is not to threaten Guatemala's territorial integrity, but rather to deal with illegal activities which happen in the Sarstoon area:

Lisa Shoman, Former Foreign Affairs Minister
"I don't think that we as a nation want to get embroiled in any agreement that talks about our militarizing the border, because that has never been our intent. We have every right to protect our national territory and to safeguard our territorial integrity. There is nothing wrong with that and we should not be resiling from any such move, because among other things, our security forces deal with trans-national organized crime and we simply cannot allow our borders to be open to people passing through and dealing with trans-national organized crime."

Reporter
"As it relates to forward operating base, perhaps you know but my understanding of it was that it was being called "joint" because there would be BDF presence there as well."

Lisa Shoman
"I can tell you that when I discussed it with my counterparts when I was foreign minister in 2007-2008, we made it clear that it would be a joint base."

Reporter
"How does all this fit into what has transpired, because they have spoken about just coast guard and police, but not BDF, since they are saying it won't be a military base."

Lisa Shoman
"I think if it a Belizean forward operating base, if the BDF needs to stop there it will. If the BDF needs to use it, it will. So, yes, I don't see the issue there and I now see that there has been some pronouncement passed on a new protocol for either the Sarstoon or I think it was said the Bay of Amatique. But as far as I am concerned, the Bay of Amatique is not even in Belize. That's a part of Guatemala as far as i know. So I am very interested to see what that new protocol will entail and involve."

Today's release from the foreign Ministers also says, quote, "The mechanism to "avoid incidents"...never included any decision or directive in respect of any military base, or any other manner of Operation Post, Conservation Post or Forward Operating Base." End Quote.

And while the statement is good grist for the news cycle - there's a gaping hole in it: Assad Shoman, the only Minister of Foreign Affairs from that era who did not sign was the lead negotiator on Guatemala and the co-framer of the confidence building measures. He did not sign unto the joint statement, and his absence is more than notable, it is glaring.