Two days ago the government sent out a press release saying, quote, "the BDF…continues to go up (the Sarstoon) river to effectuate the rotation at Cadenas, as was done last Tuesday."

Well the news tonight is that it's not quite that simple; in fact, the soldiers had to try to go down the river two times – because on the first attempt, two Guatemalan Navy Vessels blocked them!  Now, this sort of low grade military to military harassment has been happening for some years, but tonight there is video evidence of the encounter – and it is disturbing. 

7News has obtained a video of the Guatemalans blocking the BDF and Daniel Ortiz looked more closely at it:..

The cell phone footage picks up with the BDF slowing down their vessel, obviously responding to a signal from the soldiers on board the Guatemalan vessel. Right here, they're on the southern Side of the Sarstoon Island, still in Belizean territory, but approaching the deepest navigable channel of the River. But, the Guatemalan Vessel's occupants couldn't be less bothered.

One of the soldiers from the Belize vessel then engages the Guatemalan soldiers to find out why they've been stopped:

BDF Soldier
"Que paso, make we stop. Tell the man that we supposed to go through there."

Right here, you see another Guatemalan riverine vessel, their national flag flying visibly, then moves into place to blockade the BDF boat, stopping it proceeding any further. To the left of your screen is other side of the Sarstoon Island rarely ever caught on camera. To the left of your screen is the Guatemalan village which sits on the southern banks of the Sarstoon Island, where Guatemalan Mainland Starts.

As the camera swings back to the Guatemalan boat, and you can hear a BDF soldiers speaking to his Guatemalan counterpart in Spanish.

The Guatemalan then makes this chilling demand.

Guatemalan Soldier
"Respecte El Protocolo! Respecte El Protocolo!"

That's right; you heard the head Guatemalan Soldier "Respect the Protocol!"

What he's demanding is that the BDF soldiers check in at their base, which is a short distance away, and ask permission to use the Sarstoon. Obviously, the BDF soldiers haven't done that, and that's why they're being confronted.

As you can see the BDF boat is completely blockaded, and the Guatemalan soldiers have trigger fingers ready for a quick reaction. The stare-down continues for a short while, and it ends when the Guatemalan boats finally stop blocking the BDF vessel. But instead of proceeding forward the BDF vessel makes a surprising turn and then… goes back around to the North side of the Sarstoon River.

That's clearly to avoid any further confrontations, since the northern side of the Sarstoon Island allows for there to be no doubt.

The cell phone footage captures the Guatemalan riverine vessel following the BDF. As the camera finally focuses, you can see Sarstoon Island in the background, a clear sign that the BDF boat is in Belize's portion of the Sarstoon.

This happened the day before Prime Minister Dean Barrow held a Press Conference to brief the nation on the Washington Bilateral Talks. He and his Government knew that this incident happened, and yet, neither he nor the others at the head-table chose to reveal it, all the while assuring that progress had been made.

File: May 5, 2016

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=36197&frmsrch=1

Rt. Hon Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"In other words as I understand it the two countries are to agree an operational protocol regarding the Sarstoon and the statement commends their willingness to do this. As the Secretary General put it, he "welcome the readiness of both parties to advance in the negotiations of the cooperation mechanism." for the Sarstoon."

"The government of Belize regards the results of the Washington meeting as something of a breakthrough."

A minor correction to our story, we said that the confrontation happened on Wednesday. But, best information from the BDF says it happened on Tuesday. Yet, up to Thursday, it was not disclosed at the Prime Minister's press conference. It took a bit of probing from the media - after this footage was leaked - for there to be public acknowledgment that it happened.