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Daniel Ortiz reporting
Bright and Early on Saturday morning, Border Activist Wil Maheia and members of the press arrived at the docking location. They intended to make a trip to Gracias A Dios, and that meant travelling through the Sarstoon River.

On this particular day, there were a number of Belizean military men also making preparations to go to sea, but don't be mistaken, they were not going to accompany the Belizean civilians on this trip. The Government, seeing the danger of such an action, had warned, and Maheia had ignored.

Wil Maheia - Leader of Sarstoon Expedition
"Well today as you know it's one year today since the 37 Belizeans were captured or detained or held hostage by the Guatemalan military. It was right in this same area. Clearly as you can see we are on the Belize side. So today, we can't let that go, something that happened so drastic in our history - we couldn't let that go unnoticed. So the purpose of today's trip is to remember that Guatemalans came into Belizean territory and detained Belizeans or held them hostage."

So, that meant that once again, they would have to venture into uncertain waters, where they would most likely encounter Guatemalan military personnel.

The trip from PG Town to the mouth of the Sartoon was as it always is, beautiful and scenic, and while they were in Belizean waters, it resembled a trip to the cayes.

Once the arrived at the mouth of the Sarstoon, however, the situation became instantly pressurized. The Guatemalan Military was there, and this time, they appeared more purposeful than in the encounters from last year.

In the past, they took on the roles of watchful Guardian sentinels. This time, they appeared more like a blockade set up to stop Belizeans.

It looked to be a situation that could get confrontation, and so, a prudent decision was made by the captains to end the trip before an international incident could have a chance to happen.

The 2 Belizean vessels steered clear of the Guatemalan boats:

Wil Maheia - Leader of Sarstoon Expedition
"Okay, what's going on out here as you could see, there is like 5 Guatemalan military boats. They don't only have one or two people on it, some of these boats have 10, 15 people on it. You could point the cameras there and you could see the amount of Guatemalan military. So of course, its human being, human nature - it's very intimidating and they are doing that. You could see we are pushing our boats towards our military outpost or towards our military camp. You could see the minute we try getting into it, they're backing us clearly inside Belize waters again. So, I mean right now as a Belizean we cannot even access our own military base without having to check in with the Guatemalans. I just find that this is very disappointing. The captains' don't feel like to get confrontational of the boat. I don't mind like pushing forward, but again, it's not just like my show, I have to respect what the captain say too. I think we are clearly in Belizean waters, so we should be going there. Of course the captains feel a different way when they see all that military might. Clearly they are undermining us. But clearly we can't give up. This is Belize and we have to fight for every - Philip Goldson and George Price said "not a blade of grass and not a centimeter of land." So I think that we cannot give up. We cannot allow these people. I called on the Belizean people to raise up and see these guys are occupying our territory. Today, there is a lot more military presence. Guatemala have much more military boats and much more military people in their boats. So they are more military presence than the last time."

Reporter
"Do you feel this is a tactic used to claim additional territory if they intimidate the soldiers or citizens of Belize?"

Wil Maheia - Leader of Sarstoon Expedition
"Well international law has it and I think that it's in the court of law. If Guatemala occupies this for X amount of years and there is no protest from the Belizeans or there is nothing to try and get it back, then of course they (court) will rule in their (Guatemala) favor. I forgot the terminology right now, but occupation of land or sea and if nobody opposes then, then have the right to that land eventually. But I really think that Belizean people need to call on their government to really do something about this situation."

Maheia interpreted this presence as a more active and aggressive profile of Guatemala's claim to Sarstoon.

Reporter
"The government has issued this release - they say it's not safe and they are not saying that you can't come here, but there is possibility of danger. Does this mean now that you will give up after today's efforts assuming you don't push forward?"

Wil Maheia - Leader of Sarstoon Expedition
"Clearly we are not giving up. We will not give up. This river belongs to us as well as to Guatemala. Half belongs to us and half belongs to them. We are being denied our right to go on our river and I just think that's it's unfortunate, it's unfair and in addition to that the amount of destruction that Guatemalans are doing to our environment, we need to take a stand."