As you saw in both clips, Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington and his Guatemalan counterpart were also present as representatives. So, what does Elrington make of the exchange? That's what the we asked him this afternoon at a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belmopan. Here's what he had to say:
Jules Vasquez
"Were those advised remarks? Did you encourage him, coach him or lead him into making those remarks?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"Jules the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is made up of a number of very talented professionals who literally put together everything that we say, so that declarations are never impromptu. They are always prepared by officials of the government."
Jules Vasquez
"Well according to President Morales, the Deputy Prime Minister Vega, used the wrong forum and in fact spoke unfairly at that event. What is your view on the response from President Morales?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"He was of the view that maybe that is not the forum that we should use but really and truly that is the forum. That's why you have these organizations and these are organizations where we do political discussions. So it is not our view that we did anything that was wrong and I sort of regretted that he took the view that we should not have raised it there, but we have got to raise these issues in the forum that it needs to be raised. We take advice, I don't go to Cuba or the Prime Minister of the Government of Belize can't send an entire delegation of Belizeans to Cuba to sit on out thumbs and not really to make known what is happening in our country. We don't have any military, we don't have any military alliance with any other country to protect us and we have got to be protected by these diplomatic means. What the Deputy Prime Minister simply stated was that our both civilians and military personnel were being intercepted by Guatemalan military personnel. That was of recent vintage, its been happening for about a year and a half now, but it was not anything that was not true. It was basically reporting, as far as I know, what had been happening in our river."
Jules Vasquez
"The impression I have is that the Guatemalans don't like to be called out on these things. Well no one liked to be embarrassed in public and perhaps they are feeling that we are shaming them or trying to shame the internationally. Has these various endorsements Belize has gotten, has this created friction in the Belize-Guatemala relationship?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"This is not my sense, as a matter of fact it is my sense that it is helping us to come to a kind of modus Vivendi."
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