For the past two days, we've been reporting on the leaked diplomatic note from the Guatemalan Government which refutes the Belize Government's assertion that they agreed to allow Belizeans to freely travel the Sarstoon.
As you've been seeing since the Istanbul Bilateral talks concluded a month ago, Prime Minister Dean Barrrow, Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington, and even PUP Representative Eamon Courtenay all told 7News that the Guatemalans did in fact enter informal agreement for "untrammeled access" to the Sarstoon by Belizeans.
A few days later, Channel 5 and KREM went to test this agreement for "untrammeled access", and they exposed that the Guatemalan military was still blockading Belizean vessels from traveling freely through the River.
A week later, the PUP went on their own familiarization trip, and they encountered no such harassment, which the Foreign Minister confidently asserted as proof that though the Guatemalans simply hadn't relayed the arrangement down the chain of command during the media trip, but had since done so.
Here's the Foreign Minister giving an explanation for the two trips, one on which Belizeans were stopped, and the other on which they weren't:
Jules Vasquez
"Has there been any explanation from the Guatemalan forces, why Belizeans - media colleagues here - were stopped when they went on the river?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"We haven't heard from the armed forces but what we got from the ministry of foreign affairs was that the foreign minister had not had enough time to be able to brief the military as to what in fact we had agreed in Istanbul. He was travelling and so you know you have the Chain of Command, people are not going to do things unless they get instructions. That is the explanation we got."
Reporter
"Sir is it the case that the Guatemalan sent a later to your ministry on Friday after the trip that the PUP made saying that they basically allowed that trip because Belize had informed them of it and that it was an educational visit?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I not only was told that, I was told that by word of mouth by the Foreign Minister of Guatemala and I was shown the two boats going around because the Guatemalans had photographed them. They did not see the drone but the drone was on top photographing every move they made. The Guatemalans knew they were going, but I think they are moving to the point where they want to normalize the situation, that's my view. I don't think they're happy with the status quo, they want to normalize the relationship. That is the instruction we got from the OAS, that is the undertaking that we gave to the OAS that we will seek to normalize and they are trying to do it in the best way they can, that's my sense. They were happy to tell me that the PUP went there and there were no incidents."
Jules Vasquez
"However if somebody else goes there will not be let and there will be hindrance."
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"No, that's what I'm saying, they're normalizing the situation and my understanding is that things are going to get back to normal."
So, that brings us to this week when the diplomatic note showed the Guatemalans putting it on paper that they did not agree to allow free access to Belizeans.
So, Wil Maheia and Channel 5 went back to the Sarstoon today and exposed once again that the Guatemalans continue to enforce their claim over the entire River. Wil Maheia provided the boat and commanded the operation. Today he described the encounter for us via Skype:
Wil Maheia, Leader, BTV
"By the time we entered the river we saw the Guatemalan military getting into their boat and we went pass the island and by the time we get pass the island, their boat was right there as well and they followed us up the river for maybe a half a mile or so and we decided to turn back and when we turned back, they pulled up on the Belize side. Because first they were on their side of the river, when we turned around, they pull up on our side of the river and they tried to stop us and there were 9 of them in their boat with their guns. We said 'no this is Belize, you can't stop us' and he says 'no, stop the boat' and I was saying 'no, we are not going to stop the boat.' So I instructed my captain not to stop this boat and we continued to proceed towards the mouth of the river and they insisted on stopping our boat. What happened, they tried to cut us off. I told our captain to give our boat more gas and what happened is that they had a boat similarly like ours, almost same horse power, but they had their boat overloaded with military people. So that give our boat to be a little faster than theirs and that was the reason there we got out of the river without them trying to blocked us, because they were trying to block our boat and we just were fortunately prevented them from doing that. We told them this is Belize's territory and he keep saying 'respect to protocol' and I kept saying 'no have protocol' and then he said 'ask your government.' He is saying respect the protocol and I am saying what protocol, there is no protocol and I told he was on Belize side, you are violating our sovereignty. Finally we kept going and they were side by side and they were coming very close to us, similar to what happened to the folks in Orange Walk. I let them know it's dangerous for you boat to be so close to our boat, because if you check the footage, you will see that their boat was so close to our boat, it was becoming dangerous. It was passing water into our boat. When I said that, then they kind of slowed a little. By that time we were heading towards the forward operating base and they went back over to their side."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, do you believe they intended to arrest you all?"
Wil Maheia, President, BTV
"Yes, clearly, because when they got close to our boat, their captain or the person in charged, instructed the Guatemalan soldiers to grab our boat and I said no and we did allow them to get close enough, which was like a blessing for us, because our boat was a little faster than their boat. There was no high speed chase, but our boat was a little faster than their boat."
This evening, Government sent out a release, which says, quote, "Guatemalan authorities have communicated that they attempted to stop the vessel to inquire as to the reason for the taking of pictures of their naval base.
GOB is…seeking to confirm the details of the Channel 5 version of events. GOB makes clear its firm position that if the report is accurate, the incident would constitute a breach of the spirit of the Confidence Building Measures and must also be rejected as prejudicial to the ongoing diplomatic efforts, including next week's meeting in Washington, to establish a bilateral Cooperation Mechanism for the Sarstoon."
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