P.U.P. Releases Official Position on ICJ

Eamon Courtenay

As we told you on Tuesday’s newscast, the P.U.P. has come to a consensus where the ICJ is concerned, and is currently preparing a policy paper which it will present shortly. This morning, former senior negotiator on the Guatemalan claim and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eamon Courtenay, clarified the Party’s position, stating that objection to the ICJ is two pronged.

Eamon Courtenay, Attorney

“The vast majority of Belizeans have absolutely no confidence in the United Democratic Party management of this issue. We cannot go to the ICJ being led by Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington. We cannot go to the ICJ to fight for our territorial integrity and territorial sovereignty with a person who believes that our border is artificial. We cannot be led into the ICJ by an Attorney-General who is confused about the integrity of our maritime borders in the south of this country. It is the consensus of the Party that the team in charge of this fight in the ICJ is not a team that we can trust. Secondly, we do not believe that the government of Guatemala is acting in good faith. There is no point going to the ICJ and winning the case if the government of Guatemala in good faith will not implement the result that we expect. We have seen consistent, continual invasions of our territory by Guatemalan nationals with the government of Guatemala turning a blind eye. And what is worse…what is worse…is that when our security forces insist on our sovereignty being respected and have to act in their defence our government acts in singular weakness and ends up paying and compensating Guatemalans.”

Courtenay says that until they see manifest signs of good faith on the ground, the P.U.P. cannot and will not support going to the ICJ. He reiterated that the P.U.P. is fully in support of a referendum.