Elrington Blames Belizeans for Incidents with Guatemala
Wilfred Elrington
Shortly at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts, the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Belize and Guatemala will make presentations at a Culture for Peace forum organized by the Organization of American States. But this morning, Wilfred Elrington and Carlos Raul Morales sat on the couch on Open Your Eyes to discuss bilateral issues as well as taking the age-long territorial dispute between both countries to the International Court of Justice. While there was agreement on a number of issues between the foreign ministers, there were some grey areas. Elrington said that there is now no threat to Belize by Guatemala, in his view, incidents along the border are mostly caused by Belizeans.
Wilfred Elrington, Foreign Minister, Belize
“The fear that we used to have in the seventies; that I certainly used to have in the fifties, the sixties and the seventies that one day Guatemala would come across and invade Belize is no longer there. That is a thing of the past; that’s a historical relic that is no longer of concern to me and I’m certain not of concern to anybody in a serious way. Citizens living side by side will have conflicts from time to time and I have seen nothing really that has concerned me in relation to the government of Guatemala. Their behavior has been absolutely without blame in terms of their handling of incidents involving Belizeans and Guatemalans. My major concern really derives from the action of some of our citizens who believe out of some concept of nationalism and patriotism that they should want to be going every now and again to the area of the Guatemalan-Belize border to try to plant trees, whatever it is. Because of the dispute that is not a prudent thing to do. We have a dispute in which the Guatemalans are claiming primarily that they don’t adhere to the 1859 Treaty which establishes our boundary; that is not our view. The factual situation is that the Guatemalans have been teaching their people that Belize es nuestro; we have been saying that Belize is ours. So when you have ordinary citizens who were taught that Belize es nuestro see Belizeans go across to areas which they consider to be their areas, it creates tension. And when the citizens get excited, the government has to get involved and when the government gets involved, sometimes the military gets involved and that’s the last thing we want.”
Elrington needs to be tarred and feathered and run out of the country on a rail. Pitch him over the border to his Guate friends and he will see how much they love him. It would be good riddance. We have no use for him here.
“That’s the last thing we want”, quoted by Sedi, ” is War” . War is expensive and cost money and lives unnecessarily . I continue to say that diplomacy is a better alternative to bloodshed. Many Belizeans wrongly believe that Mexico, the USA and our allies in the Caribbean will run to defend Belize if Guatemala attacks. We have 2 helicopters, pending from Taiwan, and 1 thousand defense personnel. What does Guatemala have? There is a place for nationalism and patriotism, risking the lives of tens of thousands is not one of them. The dispute between Belize and Guatemala is being adjudicated in the international courts. Let it be. People, like Willy, who go to the border and provoke confrontation are misguided; they are playing with fire. Watch the turmoil in middle east between the many warring factions. Those who have eyes, see, and those who don’t will perish and drag us all into the abyss of war. Dean should make this clear to Belizeans instead he is leaving Sedi hanging out alone to explain to misguided people that war is hell and we as a national are unable to defend ourselves agains a much more powerful neighbor. Peace be unto us all.