22 MAY
5 05
THE BELIZE TIMES
2016
EDITORIAL
T
Get back Sarstoon!
he Barrow Administration, with Foreign Minister Sedi Elrington leading the charge, is intent on perpetuating what has come to be a diplomatic fraud, i.e. negotiating some kind of new “protocol” over the use of the Sarstoon with Guatemala. How can Sedi Elrington tell the Belizean people that he “has things under control” when we can all see the evidence of Guatemala’s invasion of Belize’s territory of the Sarstoon River? How can we be expected to trust Sedi Elrington when it is he who has sufficiently empowered the Guatemalans into believing that we are “friends”, even as they bully and beat down on us and have carefully executed the annexation of the Sarstoon River? The truth of the matter is that the United Democratic Party Government of Prime Minister Dean Oliver Barrow has no legitimate authority to “negotiate” where Belize’s border sits on the Sarstoon River. To do this without the Belizean people’s knowledge and consent is treacherous and traitorous. Our borders are non-negotiable. It is an established reality since September 21, 1981, and historically as far back as the 1850s when England secured the border separating British Honduras and Guatemala. Can you imagine the audacity of Dean Barrow to pass into law a Statutory Instrument to ban Belizeans from going to the Sarstoon River until the government negotiates “protocols” with Guatemala? While Dean Barrow and his spineless Foreign Minister were busy with the millions and millions of Petrocaribe monies to win an “unprecedented third term” the Guatemalans were preparing to annex our side of the Sarstoon River. The dastardly deed is now done. Only the Guatemalan Armed Forces and
Guatemalan fisher folks are allowed on the river, until the “Protocols” for the Sarstoon River is worked out. The effect of the Statutory Instrument has been to conceal the craziness going on in the Sarstoon from the Belizean media and the public. The S.I. while prohibiting anyone without lawful authority from the Sarstoon area, is not applied to illegal incursions from Guatemala. Not even the BDF can go on the river without Guatemala’s expressed permission, a video of another clash between our security and Guatemala’s confirmed this. When will Dean Barrow and his UDP government stop the “talking” about sovereignty and begin to exercise it sensibly in the diplomatic arena? Why do we continue to limit the international mediation to the Organisation of American States? Despite the actions of Guatemala, at times witnessed by representatives of the OAS, that US-supported body is yet to bring pressure on Guatemala to respect our territorial integrity. Senior military officials who have served with pride to ensure that Guatemala respects our borders have shared with us at the BELIZE TIMES that the Sarstoon is fully gone and Guatemala will now slowly move to annex more Belizean territory. With a weak and compromised Government such as the one we have today, this threat is very real and cannot be overlooked. As Sedi meets with his Guatemalan “friend” and counterpart, Carlos Raul Morales, this Saturday we implore that he has one thing in mind: get back Sarstoon River and tell Guatemala to respect our borders. We don’t care how you do it; just get back our river that you lost because of your weak diplomacy and appeasement to the Guatemalans. Anything less is not acceptable.
Our Foreign Affairs in Shambles
By Richard Harrison Belize is currently facing its greatest foreign affairs challenge in its 35-year history as an independent nation. Its neighbor, Guatemala, continued to claim part, half or all of Belize, depending on what period and who was in power. During the recent elections held last November in Guatemala, elected president Jimmy Morales promised that taking Belize would be one of the principal objectives of his government. During the last six months
since his election, he has directed his military to increase its aggression in the border areas, to enter Belize territory at the Sarstoon River and to take complete control of Sarstoon Island, which is at the mouth of the Sarstoon River, and which was always known and respected as Belize territory. He has used every opportunity, including the recent unfortunate killing by the Belize Defense Force of a Guatemalan teen who entered Belize territory illegally, to spin rhetoric to give “justice” to his cause....while totally ignoring the fact that Belizeans have been killed by illegal Guatemalans in
Belize territory as well. Belize does not claim any part of Guatemala....Belizeans do not enter into Guatemala illegally to use their land, harvest their natural resources nor to kill their people....and the Belize Defence Force does not enter willfully into Guatemalan territory. Yet....political observers worry that Belize does not currently enjoy the international sympathy it once had in support of its independence and territorial integrity. There is a feeling that Guatemala has a much more organized and effective public relations and international relations
campaign. There are reasons for this: 1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have a set of concise and precise OBJECTIVES that are clearly and regularly updated and articulated to a coordinated national and international effort. Every person and office is paddling their own canoe, having developed turfs that are closely guarded. To a significant extent, the “think tank” that guides foreign affairs does not exist except during emergencies, and generally follows the unilateral political Continued on page 14