Earlier this month BDF Commander Brigadier General David Jones expressed how optimistic he is about the swift implementation of the Sarstoon protocol. Jones had told us that the BDF are in constant contact with the Commander of the Guatemalan armed forces and that they plan on reaching an agreement as early as next month. Well, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred Elrington doesn't seem to share that same optimism. He told us that the fatal shooting of the 13 year old Guatemalan boy really fractured the already volatile relationship between Belize and Guatemala. Elrington says, since that incident, Guatemala has been giving us the cold shoulder and that has stagnated the Sarstoon protocol process.
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"We are not any further than we were the last time we discussed this matter. It is necessary for the Guatemalans to in fact agree to sit with us and to negotiate it. They were very upset about the last incident on the border with the youth who died and in consequence of that, they have really backed off - gone quite. I have tried to engage the foreign minister, but he is not dispose to sit with us yet and neither is he dispose to cause his technical people to sit with our technical people to work. And so we haven't made any head way on that front."
And while things are at a standstill at the official level, there is more conflict and confusion on the ground, or we should say in the Sarstoon River. Elrington told us that this is why there is a desperate need to come to some resolution for the sake of the citizens on either side of the border.
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"The protocol on the Sarstoon is important because it is design to ensure that even if we have any problems on the Sarstoon, we have a mechanism to settle it. There will always be conflicts. That will never happened. It happens in the South China Sea, it happens between Trinidad and Barbados, it happens all over the place - Surinam, Guyana - wherever you have border disputes and people have to earn their living by fishing, there is going to be problem on the border. The important thing is that once that border is clearly defined, you can deal with it better and once you have a mechanism for resolving these disputes, it is always safer for the populist - it's always easier."
Courtney Weathernburne
"You mentioned earlier that its important to have some marker there and that has been at the basic level for citizens as well and sea. Because remember the 6 Belizeans who were detained, they said on record they had no idea where Belize waters starts and stops."
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"The same thing applies on the land. There are no markers there. You don't know, you are in the bush, in the forest. So neither Guatemalans know when they are in Belizean territory nor Belizeans. I had a farmer one time at a property I had in Bullet Tree and he was detained for about 2 weeks. He said he went to cut some fence posts and the Guatemalans took him and claim that he was in their territory when he thought all the while he was in Belize territory."
Email
Print