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Back at home, the Opposition Leader and his representative – who boycotted the Washington meeting  - have summed it up as a, quote, “complete failure.â€￾ 

This evening, they released a statement saying, â€œThe People's United Party expresses its deep disappointment at the failed talks held yesterday… in Washington D.Câ€￾ End Quote.

The statement continues, quote, “It is plain that Guatemala intends to maintain control of Belize’s portion of the Sarstoon River, and the Government’s response is to keep talking and hoping that Guatemala will at some point in the future withdraw from asserting control.â€￾ End Quote.

And there’s also a swipe at Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington. The PUP Statement says, quote, â€œWe repeat our call for the immediate removal of Wilfred Elrington…for lack of competence and for misleading the Belizean people. There is a complete loss of trust and confidence in Mr. Elrington, and his deep affection for the Foreign Minister of Guatemala continues, in our opinion, to cloud his judgment…" End quote.

This evening, the PUP’s Representative in the Bilateral Talks, Eamon Courtenay, told the press why they’ve decided at this time to walk away from the National Team effort. Here’s what he had to say:

Eamon Courtenay - PUP Representative
"So we're deeply disappointed at the result but we are not surprised. We made a very fundamental point which is that we disagree with the approach of the government of Belize on this issue. The government has no plan, it has no strategy, it has no objective in mind and when one looks back at what has been happening in the past few months it seems to us that there are two things that the government is doing. One is talking and talking and talking and the second hoping and hoping and hoping. They are talking to Guatemala ad nauseam and they are hoping that the foreign minister of Guatemala and the Guatemalan government is going to somehow one day change their mind and just withdraw from their complete control over the Sarstoon. From the perspective of the PUP talking and hoping is not a plan, talking and hoping is not a strategy and more importantly all this talking, all it is doing is confirming Guatemala's control over the Sarstoon and it is not reversing that illegality."