And so while all parties wait on the outcome of that investigation - there's another event that could cause another flashpoint in Belize Guatemala relations. The Belize Territorial Volunteers are going back down into the Sarstoon this weekend. They say it is a special April 30th expedition to mark 150 years since Belize's borders were established. Wil Maheia told us this evening, he is dead set on it, but today the Prime Minister very strongly cautioned against it:..
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"In the current circumstances where we just went through an absolutely harrowing weekend, the entire country - all of us sitting at this table where we have come through unscathed and where our diplomacy and face to face meetings with Guatemala have produced this resolve to de-escalate tensions and to find a way rooted in peace and mutual respect forward. In those circumstances, for these people to maintain that they will still go to the sarstoon on Saturday would in my view be absolutely and utterly unacceptable. We now have a forward operating base at the mouth of the river. If they go and the Guatemalans (as the Guatemalans will) seek to intercept them, our people who are there will have to react, hopefully in a way that would not cause the situation to get out of control. But that could potentially provoke just that occurrence. I am appealing to the Territorial Volunteers, give peace a chance."
Maheia told us that since the press conference he has gotten a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking him to meet on Wednesday with senior diplomatic and military officials. They plan to dissuade him from taking the expedition into the Sarstoon, but Maheia told us that the NTUCB called him to say they are supporting him and intend to participate. With that, and the support of his executive, he says he remains fixed on Saturday's expedition.
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