The Belize Territorial Volunteers are heading to Sarstoon Island for a patriotic party on Sunday - but, the way things have been going, the Guatemalan Navy could just end up crashing that party - which could turn ugly. We say that because in the past few months the Guatemalans have given every indication that they consider the island to be disputed territory - even though it is recognized in Belize as the southern boundary of Belize. The Guatemalans recent hostility towards the Coast Guard and the volunteers suggest that Sunday could be another showdown in the Sarstoon - and, we gather, this is causing some anxiety in Belmopan. That's why the Prime Minister called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council this evening.
The PM chairs the council and their statement issued half an hour ago says, quote, "The National Security Council (NSC) of Belize met in a special session this afternoon to consider the security and citizen protection issues arising out of this Sunday's planned expedition" It continues, quote, "Belize's military has been asserting sovereignty over our side of the Sarstoon on a continuing basis. This is done operationally by the ferrying of our troops on a regular basis up the river to our outpost at Cadenas. The changing of the guard there occurs on a weekly basis, and soldiers going in and those coming out are transported by our military boats. This exercise gives rise to countless encounters with the Guatemalans since they dispute our ownership of the river and claim it to be a recognized part of their national territory, but we maintain and act upon our sovereign position." End quote.
It continues, quote, "The incidents arising from this usually take the form of Guatemalan shadowing and sometimes attempted interceptions of our military boats, but the Belizean military have handled and will continue to handle all these encounters….They have thus succeeded in maintaining our sovereign, operational use of our side of the river, and they have done so without having to fire a shot." And here's where the statement turns to the volunteers and Sunday's expedition: quote, "BDF Soldiers are the ones, and the only ones, to continue successfully to do this. Civilians for all the reasons that are so obvious and overpowering, have no business placing themselves in harm's way and complicating and endangering our military's accustomed, tried and true way of dealing with Guatemala's claimed ownership of all of the Sarstoon."
It concludes, "this Sunday's planned civilian expedition to the Sarstoon Island is ill-advised and downright dangerous." Of, we've heard that before but- the release adds, quote, "The Security Council is of course most concerned about the safety of Belizean citizens and has put in place a contingency plan to try to deal with all possible consequences of the action of the Territorial Volunteers. This plan involves local positioning, outreach and coordination with key diplomatic partners and a central role for the OAS who will be in the vicinity of the Sarstoon Island in an observer/peace-keeping role even before the expedition arrives."
So, the OAS will be there, which seems encouraging, but the release concludes, quote, "Notwithstanding all this…the only way to eliminate all risk is for the expedition to be called off; and the Security Council advises those in charge to do precisely that."
So, to encapsulate it, the big takeaway from that release is that Government has activated a contingency plan, and that the OAS will be nearby in a peace keeping role.
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