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Last week, during his press conference on the Bilateral Talks with Guatemala in Washington DC, we asked him about the BDF Threat Assessment Report which outlines the 10 years of aggressive encounters with the Guatemalan military in the Sarstoon. He said then that he hadn't read the report, but it appears that over the weekend took the opportunity to review it. Today, he took another bite at the cherry and made a 1-hour, 10 minute presentation on the territorial claim. Here's his explanation of the context that these aggressive incidents should be taken in:

Hon. Wilfred Elrington - Minister of Foreign Affairs

"There are some suggestions in the media and other quarters that in fact we were hiding reports that incidents have been occurring and that they had to get some secret document to show that over the last 16 years we had 10 incidents. We were hiding any reports, we were not hiding the fact that incidents are occurring. I have complained at the UN about incidents, so it's no secret, we have nothing to hide but what we are not going to do is to cry wolf. We're not going to make a mountain out of a mole head, we're not going to inflate an incident and make it more serious than in fact it is because the international community is going to condemn us for it. They are going to say that we're crying wolf. We are not experiencing anything near to what is happening in Palestine and Israel; nothing near to it, nothing not even close to it, we have not lost a soldier, we have not lost a Belizean in any military combat and that is the way we need to keep it. We cannot afford to lose a single person."

"Given the nature of the claim, given the nature of the terrain, we know and we expect that there is going to be conflicts and disputes from time to time but we have competent capable people to deal with these issues. We take these incidents in out strides and we solve them. As soon as they occur, we solve them. The practice of the media has been to come, take your view and then twist it in a way you don't recognise it, seeming to have one thought in mind; to confuse the public and try to make you look bad, they have not had much success but I can tell you they don't give up. Well Mr. Speaker that era has ended; I will no longer give any interview on my own. Whenever I'm asked to give an interview, I will get in touch with the leader of the opposition and say whom will you send, whom will you send and myself and that person will speak to the nation because this is a matter that we have to keep on head on."