And one of the reasons he is so determined is because he says since the forward base opened, Guatemalan encroachments on the Belize side of the Sarstoon continue unabated. He says he's been to the base every single day since it opened, and every day he sees Guatemalan Fisherfolk, freely operating in Belizean waters. Take that fact, and the other fact that Guatemalan gunboats very deliberately pulled over to the Belize side of the river when the forward base was opened, and you get the clear picture that Guatemala is taking over the river. It's called annexation, and today the Prime Minister rejected that characterization:...
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"How can there be an annexation, or how can there be as others have suggested any risk that we run that ultimately a court of justice might say that we have slip on our rights or that we have made a - what in fact would be a territorial concession to Guatemala with respect to the Sarstoon. We continue to act in accordance with that position, including of course the constructing of the forward operating base that sees our vessels moored at the mouth of the Sarstoon. We continue to go up river. That does not stop the Guatemalans from insisting that the entire river is theirs, but it certainly makes clear to the world that that is a position we do not and cannot accept. There cannot be any possible question of Belize having for legal purposes conceding any of its rights with respect to its portion of the Sarstoon."
"Not accepting" it is one thing but stopping it is another, and later in the news we'll show you our encounter with Guatemalan fishers on Friday - and the quite candid remarks one of them made about operating in Belizean waters.
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