If you're a parent, you probably had to make other arrangements for your children today because classes were canceled countrywide. That was to make way for an event organized by the teachers union called "Stand Up For Belize." It's an educational campaign on the Belize Guatemala Territorial Dispute - and teachers were the first to get the knowledge.
They traveled from all parts of the country to Benque Viejo Town.
With all that's been happening with Guatemala, the forum was timely, and they got some all-star guests, namely Wilfred Elrington and Assad Shoman.
Our news team was there for the entire event. Daniel Ortiz has that story:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
Hundreds of teachers from all over the country converged at the auditorium of the Mount Carmel High School in Benque Viejo. It is famous for being the last town near the Belize Guatemala Border, and so, the stage was appropriately set for the launch of the "Stand Up For Belize" Information Campaign.
Luke Palacio - National President, BNTU
"We are so happy to be near the border with Guatemala as we send this message today that the Belize National Teachers Union is launching its campaign for all of us to stand up for Belize, because Belize is for Belizeans."
Antiliano Olivarez - Manager, BNTU Benque Branch
"I would like to acknowledge our members coming from the north, Corozal and Orange Walk, those coming from the center, Belize City, from the south, Stann Creek and Toledo and our members from the west which is Belmopan, Cayo and Benque."
Ambassador Assad Shoman - Opposition representative
"I am very impressed to see so many people here today listening to us. I feel like the rolling stones must have felt 3 weeks ago in Havana when they sang before a million people - I was one of them. So many of you. I think it's the biggest crowd I ever talk to. Certainly the smallest crowd I ever talk to."
Luke Palacio - National President, BNTU
"We don't want to hear that the Sarstoon, half of it doesn't belong to us anymore. What is geography? Do you still have 8,867 sq. miles of area? Are we still located longitude so and so? We need to get these things back into our classrooms if our Belizean children will learn to love and appreciate this country. As we launched this campaign today, we ask the questions? What has happened to the song "We don't want no Guatemala" which use to be the signature tune of the opposition now in government? What has happened to the famous "not one square centimeter" when the People's United Party was government and now they are opposition? Those are the words that we need to have resonating throughout this country, so we can build the patriotism and the love of country that we are talking about."
Ambassador Assad Shoman - Opposition representative
"But I don't think we need to riot now. We need to think. We need to unite and we need to act. Yesterday I spoke to lawyers and I talk about law. Today I am talking to teachers and I'll talk about education and culture. At that lawyers meeting I questioned them, what a lawyer said about something and he said to me 'I am a lawyer, I don't lie'. Teachers, good teachers, teachers don't lie. They are not arrogant. They don't impose fears or the ruling classes ideas. They promote open minds. They invite students to challenge, to question, to think for themselves."
The teachers want all the relevant and up-to-date information on the Belize Guatemala Territorial Dispute. They invited the Representative for the Leader of Opposition, Assad Shoman, and Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington.
Ambassador Assad Shoman - Opposition representative
"They say we are losing the Sarstoon. Some say we've lost it already. Not so. Sarstoon Island is ours. It is not Mariano? You can't see the thing, but this is the back of a t-shirt which says "Sarstoon Island da fu we". So said Colonel Manuel Calle Madrazo, the Guatemalan Boundary Commissioner who signed the map of 13th May, 1861, saying the line on it drawn in red, below the Sarstoon Island was correct. That map is attached to the 1859 treaty at the national archives museum. And Guatemalan governments have respected that line since then. The British have published maps many times right through the 1970s with that line under the island and the Guatemalan government has never protested against that. Now, quite recently, they have begun to say that the whole river is theirs and that they will assert sovereignty over it and now they have the gall to say protocols exists, that don't exists - that their new version of reality is the status quo, like the Israel's owns Palestine. They are trying to establish facts on the ground as they called it. Facts on the ground by force, expecting that these so called facts will be internationally recognized after a time. Those are not friendly acts and if I were the foreign minister, I would say to Carlos Raul "when I was down, you just stood there grinning" and that's a picture of Carlos Raul grinning away. Grinning and changing the facts, inventing history. I have called Guatemalan governments before "serial killers ...." now I say they are chronic distorters of history. Obviously we can't let them get away with that."
So how do the organizers rate the progress of today's event?
Luke Palacio - National President, BNTU
"Well we are very much satisfied with our turnouts. Again, like we said the ministry had granted us the time off for today. For those who decided not to come, it's entirely up to them. That is their decision. We would have hope though that they would have taken this opportunity, because as you all have observed it was a very educational and informative session."
The BNTU President said that this is the first step in an extensive educational campaign which will play out over the next few months.
The union intends to invite other civil society and political organizations such as the Belize Territorial Volunteers, the Belize Progressive Party, and the Vision Inspired by the People party to share their views on the ICJ and Guatemalan claim.
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