7 News Belize

Guatemalans Give Another Version Of Sarstoon Showdown
posted (August 18, 2015)
And, while the territorial volunteers gets a tongue lashing from the Foreign Minister, right now the expeditioners are also getting blasted in the Guatemalan media. We've seen news stories from 3 different media outlets from Guatemala, all of which slant against the volunteers. We'll get to the newspaper articles, but first, to that report we told you about last night from the Guatemalan news station, Canal Antigua TV. They got an interview with one of the most senior officers who tried to stop the volunteers from going to Sarstoon island. He's Guat Navy's Vice Admiral Carlos Thomas who also said that the Belizeans were the ones who were being abusive and aggressive. Here are his comments, which have been translated:

Carlos Thomas, Vice Admiral
"This is a manifestation of a lack of knowledge of some Belizean citizens, by attempting to lodge themselves or a Belizean flag in Guatemalan territory. This historically, the Sarstoon River, the waters of the Sarstoon River, are internal waters which belong to the Guatemalan state. We acknowledged it as such, and the Navy recognizes its sovereignty and it is an important mission which we are carrying out here. Simply, we did a containment movement of this civilian population, which was poorly oriented, I would say, because of their aggressive and abusive approach. They intended to take possession of property which belongs to the Guatemalan state."

So, since a Guatemalan official has explained what they did, Senator Lisa Shoman is demanding that the Government of Belize protests the actions of the Guat Navy:

Hon. Lisa Shoman, PUP Senator
"Utter rubbish. There was no way for us to go on Sarstoon Island because it is mangrove. That was actually never the intent in any case. Because the organizers saw that it would have been an issue. What we did is exactly what we were meant to do and this is why I say the words of Vice Admiral Carlos Thomas have been captured by Guatemalan media and it is the duty of our government to demand an explanation from Guatemala, but more importantly to immediately issue a note of protest, saying that they in fact came into our waters and that they have explaining to do."

Today, Guatemalan Newspaper, El Periodico, printed an article which quotes Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales as describing the trip as a political issue not supported by the Belizean Government. He insisted that the issue should be resolved at the International Court of Justice, so that all such actions can be classified as, quote, "an invasion of Guatemalan land."

Prensa Libre also printed an article on it in which they report that there was high level governmental intervention to ask the Guatemalan Navy to back down and allow the Belizeans to travel trough territorial waters they consider to be Guatemalan.

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