On Saturday, while the rest of the Country was focused on the Carnival Road March in Belize City, a small group of Belizeans participated in the first ever Sarstoon Island Eco Challenge. It's the latest idea from Wil Maheia and the Belize Territorial Volunteers in their continued agitation for greater awareness of the Sarstoon Island.
The volunteers set up a Kayak and Canoe race from the Barranco Village pier, to the Mouth of the Sarstoon, around the Sarstoon Island and back. With the help of our colleagues from PGTV, Maheia's television station, we have some images of that event. Here's how it looked out on the southern waters this Saturday:
Though the event went mostly without incident, viewers just saw how the Guatemalan military vessels positioned themselves almost to stop the Belizeans. There may have been one or 2 which were definitely in Belizean waters at while they waited for the racers to get there. That will have to be verified by the Belizean law enforcement officers who were also observing. One observer who is questioning why nothing was done about the Guatemalan military that day is Belizean American Mario Lara. He's a former US Army soldier, who says that activities like this shouldn't be taken lightly. Lara was out on the Sarstoon in one of the boats as a sort of technical assistance staff for the race, should anything go wrong, He says that the Guatemalan military had intentions of trying to stop them. He explained via phone that the driver of his boat had to disregard the Guatemalan warning not to enter the Sarstoon to:
Mario Lara, Concerned Citizen
"When we reached at the mouth if the Sarstoon River where the forward operating base is on our side and the Guatemalan operating base is on their side. I observed that we had a Guatemalan military vessel right in front of our forward operating base, which to me was in Belizean waters and then we had some other support boast out there and some other people in the others support boats came and try to warn Wil Maheia who is the organizer of the event and the leader of the Belize Territorial Volunteers. I was in his boat and one of the other support boats came up and said that the Guatemalans have told him that they won't let us pass. They will only "allow" the kayakers to go on the island. So we decided to continue, because as the support boat we had to follow the kayakers all the way on the island, so we continue on and like I said off in the distance there was a Guatemalan military vessel on their side. There was a second Guatemalan vessel right in front of our forward operating base. I believe our coast guard vessel was also in the waters. They were quite close to each other actually. Both vessels appeared to me was clearly in the Belize side of the channel. So we went ahead to the island, the southern pic of the Sarstoon Island, which is in the channel right there. Another Guatemalan military vessel left from the Guatemalan side of the river. They undocked and they came up behind us. So we went ahead of the kayaker and that Guatemalan military vessel follow the kayaker all the way around the island. So definitely 100% that Guatemalan military vessel with armed military personnel there followed that kayak all the way around the island and no only that, they had a drone. Clearly Guatemala is not following any confident building measures, because to me they are behaving in an aggressive manner and it doesn't take anybody with military training to see that. To me that's plainly obvious."
Indeed he has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Defence requesting clarifications on the behavior of the Guatemalan military.
In his letter, he writes, quote, "...I fully understand the need for diplomacy. However, how is it that armed Guatemalan military personnel and vessels are allowed in Belizean territory? Does the confidence building measures allow for this? If not, why are we not lodging any complaints with OAS, UN, and the United States who supply Guatemala with military weapons?" End Quote.
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