N.T.U.C.B. Says FM Elrington was Disrespectful

Marvin Mora

And what is the position of the unions in respect of the Belize Territorial Volunteers’ recent encounter with the Guatemalan Military near the Sarstoon Island? President of the N.T.U.C.B. says that the position hasn’t changed, but they haven’t had a chance to sit and discuss the recent happenings to issue an official statement. And while we were with Mora, he gave his personal take on the refusal by Foreign Minister Elrington to accept reports by the media on the events at the Sarstoon.

Marvin Mora, President, N.T.U.C.B.

“Umm…Personal basis, I can tell you that it sounded disrespectful to me. However, he is entitled to his own opinion, so is the Congress. We have not been able to go back to the discussion table around that issue because of the very packed agenda that we had this weekend. We are hoping that we do have some level of discussion about it. But, all in all, what the Union keeps asking is for the Government to be assertive if the Island belongs to you, show assertiveness. Make sure that our people know it’s theirs and that they can go there. There should not be any issues with anybody trying to traverse this country from one end to the next unless we are not living in a free society that we think we are living in. Other than that, all I can tell you is that the Congress will look at the matter and we will continue monitoring because it is of importance to us. Like I said, that is the first issue that we tackle at the first executive. It is something very important. It is our homeland and we are willing to do whatever it takes so they know our position is one of assertiveness.”

We’ll have more from Mora later in the newscast.