7 News Belize

Territorial Volunteers To Sarstoon, Defiantly
posted (August 11, 2015)
Sarstoon Island... lately, it's been in the news a lot, ever since the revelation that the Guatemalan Government was opposed to the Coast Guard building a forward operating base.

And while they argue about a base, the Belize Territorial Volunteers say they want to simply plant the Belizean flag there. So they are going there defiantly on Sunday for their next patriotic outing. The leaders told us why today:

Orlando De La Fuente - Member, Northern Territorial Volunteers
"Our bus is departing Orange Walk at 12 midnight. We hope to be in PG by 6AM and have some breakfast, stretch our legs and then we will arrive at the staging point which has now been identified as Barranco Village. That's going to be at 9AM. So from Barranco Village, we will have the boats departing to the Sarstoon which is about 2 miles away and we have a list of activities planned for that day. We are going to raise the Belize flag, we are going to sing the National Anthem and we have a keynote speaker that we are going to feature."

"At Belize Territorial Volunteers, we don't see how it could be aggravating situation for a Belize to visit nay part of his own country. But we are not in agreement with the Belize's foreign policy regarding Guatemala and its claim. Ever since Independence, our position has eroded and now we have gain a lot of credence to Guatemala's claim."

"We selected Sarstoon, because we want to highlight the problem. We want to highlight the issue and bring focus on Sarstoon Island, because the government, the Foreign Minister has spoken time after time and the positions that the government has taken, has not helped Belize's case at all. But by going to the Sarstoon we want to show Belizeans and we want them to join us in standing up and say like Wil called it "let's take back Sarstoon" on Sunday."

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers
"I believe that we as Belizeans have to stand up for something. We are standing up for Belize. On Sunday, we will be standing up for our country, for our military, for our coast guard, for Belize in general. We have to show solidarity and we have to show the world yes we do have a border and we should not be restricted from going to any part of this 867 square miles that we are blessed with."

Daniel Ortiz
"In the middle of the river, parts of it north belongs to Belize. Half of it south belongs to Guatemala. How will you navigate to maintain that you don't go over to the Guatemalan side and make sure that there is no reason that the Guatemalan military, who we may encounter out there can say you all incurred on our territory?"

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers
"I've been going there for many years. In fact, like I have said before I drove the boat when Sir Manuel Esquivel went to visit the border marker at Gracias Adios. There is no chance for mistake there. We will not be making any mistake. We do agree that maybe the last boat that went, that was the captain's first time. We will have a briefing. We've done this before. We've been to the Sarstoon Island before. We've planted flags there before. So, it's noting new that we are doing. We are leaving from Barranco, which will make it a lot easier for everybody who wants to go, meets us in Barranco and we will be providing the boats to go to Sarstoon Island. There is no change for that we will make an error and end up on the Guatemalan side."

Daniel Ortiz
"How would you deescalate a situation if indeed if there is any confrontation, if we encounter any of those persons? How will you handle that situation?"

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers
"Well I am thankful that the media is coming, because the media will tell the story. Each boat will have a media personnel on it and the cameras will be rolling. So if there is a military encounter, it means that Guatemalans have once again trespass on Belizean soil, because we will not be going into their area."

7News will be there, and we'll tell you how it goes.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize