The Sarstoon River is once again ground zero for Belize/Guatemala relations after the conservation NGO, SATIIM, was stopped for a second time this year by the Guatemalan Armed Forces.
It happened last Thursday when a forest patrol was on the way to monitor deforestation and illegal activities on their ancestral lands in Southern Belize.
The last time this happened was in April of this year, and this time, SATIIM made sure to capture the entire encounter on video. They've posted it on youtube with English Subtitles so that non-Spanish speakers can understand what the Guatemalan soldiers said. Here's that video unedited:
Today, we caught up with SATIIM's Executive Director, and she told us that she will seek clarification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
Froyla Tzalam - Executive Director, Satiim
"We conducted our usual monthly patrol and on the morning we reported to the forward operating base that we were going up the Sarstoon. We got permission and about a kilometer from the base we got stopped by GAF, who basically told us quite calmly that there is a protocol in place and that protocol involves getting permission from their foreign affairs to travel the water. So on that occasion we were allowed to continue, but we were told that the next time we were in the area, we must have that permission."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Have you all complained to the Belizean authorities and have they responded in any kind of way?"
Froyla Tzalam - Executive Director, Satiim
"We haven't complained at yet, because we actually got this report Saturday. That's going to do the first thing that I do when I get back to the office. But I am in no rush to be honest, because the last letter that I sent out, I still haven't had an answer to, which was asking the question which will be repeated in the second letter "what is the protocol that we as a Belizean NGO must follow from our Belizean foreign affairs?.""
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Was there any specifics given as to this protocol? Is it Guatemala in nature, is it bilateral in nature, is it Belizean in nature?"
Froyla Tzalam - Executive Director, Satiim
"I cannot speak to that. What the gentlemen say is that this is now a military zone and Guatemala is going to monitor it and anybody who comes into that area, must have permission and that they will be accompanied by the military."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Does this deter your people from wanting to visit that location?"
Froyla Tzalam - Executive Director, Satiim
"That's a difficult question to answer. The interest is there, it has always existed in maintaining a presence in our lands. Now, to what extent we can go without being stop by the military is another question and the first thing I want to say is that we don't want to put our people in any kind of danger. We don't want them to be arrested for monitoring their lands. So for me the first step has to really from the ministry of foreign affairs to tell us what we need to do. Because if they tell us that in order to travel Belizean territory that we need to get permission from Guatemala and that that is the protocol that they've established, then we need to know that, because we will abide by it."
SATIIM released a statement this weekend which says, quote "Mayan natural resource management predates 150 years of border disputes...Both governments need to find a way to allow local communities to freely protect their natural resources-without threat or harassment."
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