Last week Thursday, Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington was well aware that he wasn’t making a politically correct statement when he said ,“you’ve got to be crazy”, if you don’t support going to the ICJ to settle Guatemala’s territorial claim over Belize.   Once again, he has triggered an avalanche of public criticism - and the Belize Territorial Volunteers - say they are going a little further - they’re going to write his funders to complain.  

In a press release, the BTV says, quote, “his remarks are the latest example…that the government has no intention to conduct a neutral and impartial public education program. The government has deliberately left Belizeans in the dark about what are the issues surrounding the ICJ and Guatemala’s position on the exact nature of their claim to more than half of our country.” End quote.

The BTV then accuses the Foreign Minister saying that his remarks are an attack on Belizeans who entitled to vote yes or no to the ICJ.

Their statement says, quote, “It is not open to the Foreign Minister to belittle the democratic right of Belizeans, should they choose to vote their conscience on such a vital issue. The remarks were insulting and degrading and were the opposite of what the government is paid to do, which is to conduct a country wide education campaign on all sides of the ICJ and Guatemalan issues.” End quote.

The BTV says that they will write to the US Secretary of State and the US Congress to inform them that US taxpayer’s dollars are being used by the Government to, quote, “subvert the democratic right of the people of Belize to be properly educated in preparation for the upcoming ICJ referendum”.

They are encouraging Belizeans in the diaspora, who live in the US, to email their congress representatives discussing the BTV’s assertions against the Foreign Minister. 

Their statement ends by calling on the social partners to be vigilant during the ICJ public education campaign, and to quote, “express their concerns over the failure of the Foreign Minister and his government to conduct an unbiased and impartial public education campaign.” End quote.