The biggest headline last week was the announcement by a British General Evrard that BATSUB would be re-establishing a permanent presence in Belize.
For the ruling UDP, they used that to suggest a kind of military backative – if not a real defence guarantee. It's strategic for the ruling party,
since the PUP had been criticizing them for being soft on Guatemala. But now the UDP is bolstered by their leader's hard talk – and by the arrival of
the
UK's Commander of Land Forces just in time for elections. Today, the PUP's Eamon Courtney called the press for an impromptu briefing to stress that
BATSUB's re-emergence is not a defence guarantee:…
Eamon Courtenay - Former PUP Foreign Minister
"BATSUB has always been here and in fact what they have announced it that there is an increase in their permanent presence and an increase in the
frequency with which they are going to visit Belize. As a result approximately 2,000 men will be coming through starting from next year. That is a far
cry from suggesting or implying that Belize has the protection of the British where Guatemala to mount any type of military aggression. The British
have not announced a defence guarantee, the British have not given any type of comfort to Belize and Belizeans we believe should note that the risk
that Belize faces because of the election of President Moralez is a matter that has to dealt with by Belize and we should not depend on the British to
come to our aid and defence."
"Clearly as I said the United Democratic Party is attempting to make political mileage and mischief out of the timing of the visit of the lieutenant
general. As I say we don't want to make too much of it, the British are very good at making things happen at certain times to create an impression that
certain things are what they are not. I would describe it as an excellent case of British negative reality. Just by mere coincidence they would have us
believe that the general has come to Belize to make this announcement. I think Belizeans should not focus on that announcement, I don't think we should
focus or spend much time on the timing of the announcement. If the British want to make this announcement at this time, they are doing to that to serve
their interests."
"When Belizeans go to vote on Wednesday, the issue that they have to concern themselves with is which party is better at managing Belize-Guatemala
issues."
Marisol Amaya - Krem
"Sir you are saying the PUP has the experience, the expertise, everything to its advantage to be the one to take Belize forward as it related to the
Belize-Guatemala claim. There is a confidential leaked document coming out of the intel office of the BDF which basically shows that from 2006, the
level of aggression on the part of the Guatemalans started increasing, there were several incidents that happened that year; and then in 2007 that
aggression lead the BDF to meet with their counterparts and there came a gentleman's agreement in June of 2007 as to how would start patrolling the
Sarstoon river, that they would be doing this in a joint fashion. Now there are several incidents that were never reported to the public. Now of course
with everything that has been happening with the BTV it is coming to light to the public but how can you sit there and tell the Belizean people that
the PUP is their best option when things like that have been kept from the public under a PUP administration?"
Eamon Courtenay - Former PUP Foreign Minister
"Because Marisol we have two issues there. One is the question of confidentiality issues and second how they are managed. We say when it comes to
competence, when it comes to experience, when it comes to expertise on this issue, we are far better than the Guatemalans. Now you may fault us, you
may say we should have made these public back in 2006 and 2007 and I'm prepared to listen to that and we can agree to disagree on that. But I am
speaking about competence in terms of management of the issues."
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