Belize and Guatemala Meet at OAS Adjacency Zone

As hostilities mount in the Sarstoon, there has been some progress made in agreeing to specific confidence building measures and protocols for engagement in the Sarstoon, though not a definitive resolution just yet. The announcement came at five this evening at O.A.S. headquarters in the adjacency zone, where high level diplomatic and military officials from Belize and Guatemala had been meeting since midday. Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington, and his Guatemalan counterpart Carlos Raul Morales led the delegations from both sides. News Five was at OAS headquarters and has exclusive coverage of the conclusion of lengthy discussions and debate. Elrington made the introductions, and set the stage.

Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Wilfred Elrington

“It will be recalled that in March we had went to Washington to discuss the various instances that were troubling the Belizean public in relation to activities in the Sarstoon River. And at that time of the discussion with the Guatemalan counterpart we had agreed that we will try to meet as quickly as possible after the Easter vacation to try to further the discussion. So this meeting was to doff that and at the same time we decided that we will in fact try to deal with other issues which we have on a bilateral basis between the two countries. So we now have present here with us the Guatemalan Foreign Minister who is not any stranger to Belize Carlos Raul Morales and his delegation including the Guatemalan Ambassador to Belize HE Ruldon and we have Magdalena Talamas from the O.A.S. because we always do these meetings under the auspices of the O.A.S. We have Assad Shoman representing the leader of the opposition, we have General Jones from the Belize side, General Perez from the Guatemalan side and of course we have Ambassador Alexis Rosado Belize’s Ambassador to Guatemala C.E.O. Sylvester from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of Sir Elsie the trusted secretary who is going to be recording and reporting on this meeting. So what I propose to do is simply to invite first Guatemala Foreign Minster to give his impression on the meeting and then I will ask Assad to do the same and then I will conclude by simply inviting Ms. Talamas to say a few words on the matter.”