Guatemalan Foreign Minister Says Public Education on Referendum Will be Short

Carlos Raul Morales

For about two years now, the referendum unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been holding an education campaign in schools and civil society on the pros and cons of taking the territorial dispute to the International Court of Justice. That has not been the case in Guatemala where the Foreign Minister says the campaign will be much shorter.

Carlos Raul Morales, Foreign Minister, Guatemala

“In Guatemala, as you mentioned in Belize the issue of Guatemala in Belize is very sensitive and I know that because I lived in Belize for almost eight years. In Guatemala, it is different; we have many problems in Guatemala, Marleni and let me tell you that the issue of Belize is not emotional as Guatemala is in Belize. Of course we have to educate our people, the ministry of education is ready to start with this campaign. It has to be a very short campaign; we cannot do a very long campaign because it costs a lot of money. But we are very positive about the results of the referendum. Belize is not an issue in Guatemala. We know Belize as a very good neighbor and we want to work together with Belize. What we need of course is to go to International Court of Justice and finish with this situation because bilateral…we cannot agree because the constitution of Belize doesn’t allow the prime minister to give a political situation and the constitution of Guatemala does not allow my president to agree a political arrangement to the situation. Then we need to go to the ICJ and I am very positive about the campaign in Guatemala.”

If Guatemala decides to carry out the referendum in the runoff of the elections, the date would be October twenty-sixth. The education campaign will then start at the end of September.