Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales on Keeping the Peace

The meeting today was especially significant in the wake of what the Prime Minister has called the ramping up of aggression by Guatemala in the Sarstoon, culminating in the interception of a SATIIM boat carrying rangers on patrol just three days ago. The issue, in a nutshell, is that Belize has been operating on premise that the border between both countries in the South lies at the mid-point of the Sarstoon River. Guatemala maintains that it owns the entire river. In keeping with that claim, Guatemala has now started to aggressively assert sovereignty over the river, to the point that they insist that civilians, and even the B.D.F., must ask permission before entering the river. That’s not acceptable to Belize, thus the push for confidence building measures specific to the Sarstoon. This evening Guatemala’s Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales maintained that both countries are determined to do whatever is necessary to keep the peace until the definitive settlement of the differendum.

Carlos Raul Morales, Foreign Minister, Guatemala

Carlos Raul Morales

“We are here today to continue building a new relation between Guatemala and Belize. Minster Elrington and myself, Minster Morales we are aware that we have a goal and the goals is to have the best relation between both countries. We know we have a differendum and the differendum has to be sent to the ICJ but in the mean time we have to build a very good relation between both countries and we have to avoid any kind of incidents between both countries. This is the most important, we have a very good neighborhood and the idea is to work together because we are going to be neighbors forever. Definitely there are many challenges to face, but we have the good will to continue working together and we will have these kinds of meetings, we are having these kinds of meetings just instruct the joint commission that is lead by the Guatemalan Ambassador Rosado to continue with the work to strengthen the bilateral relation. I mean the implementation of the 13 bilateral agreements. We are working very hard, I am very happy because General Perez who is the Chief Commander of the Guatemalan Army is here with General Jones of the Belize Defense Force talking about the bilateral relation and how we can avoid any kind of incidents. It is important to understand that cooperation between both countries is very important to work against the organize crime. The organize crime work in both countries and the organized crime is present in different areas of both countries and the only way to be successful in this area is to work together. Thank you minister for being here, thank you Magdalena for hosting this meeting and this office in the adjacency line and we will continue working together of the peace of both countries and to continue building these bilateral relation of peace, thank you.