While Sunday's trip has, from the perspective of the Government, done more harm than good, it did clarify what the Guatemalan position is on the Sarstoon River. What they believe is that the Sarstoon Island and the entire Sarstoon River belongs to them, and they consider that while Belize is part of their country, the Belizean territory starts north of the banks of the Sarstoon River.
Right now, there is no protocol on how the militaries and civilian law enforcement agencies of both countries should engage each other while on the Sarstoon River. There is the well-established protocol of linkup patrols between both militaries at the Western Border. So, now that the lives of the soldiers who operate at Cadenas are being endangered, there is an urgent need of a protocol for the Sarstoon area. That is made even more urgent by the fact that, as you heard in our interview, the Northern Territorial Volunteers intend, at some point in the near future, to make another trip at Gracias A Dios, a border marker also accessible by only boat travel through the river. The Prime Minister and Government recognizes the need for the establishment of that protocol for Sarstoon, and he discussed what actions will be taken to address the issue:
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"We are hoping that there will be a meeting of the two militaries; the Belize and Guatemala military and the two Foreign Ministers at the OAS in Washington very shortly. And we will try on that occasion to see if we can agree on Modus vivendi - an operational protocol for the Sarstoon, on the basis that we insist on our midpoint channel boundary. I hope that those talks will be successful. But even if they are, what happens on the ground or in this case in the river, can turn out to be al together a different story."
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