O.A.S. Secretary General Visits Adjacency Zone at Western Border

Luis Almagro

While all that was playing out in the Sarstoon, a culture of peace was being promoted in the west. Secretary General Luis Almagro, of the Organization of American States, is on an official visit to Belize and has been engaged in a series of high-level meetings with government officials and O.A.S. representatives.  During his brief stay, Almagro has met with Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington to discuss a range of issues, including the developments in the Belize/Guatemala territorial dispute.  As part of his crammed itinerary, Almagro was at the O.A.S. Adjacency Zone at the Belize/Guatemala border.   He is the first secretary-general on record to have visited the location where the organization’s office is in danger of closing its doors due to a lack of funding.  Almagro addressed the media briefly following today’s cultural presentations at the western border. He supports going to the ICJ

Isani Cayetano

“Speak to us about your official visit to Belize, what is the purpose of our mission here?”

Luis Almagro, Secretary General, O.A.S.

“The official meeting was this, to visit this project, to visit the office for the peace fund and also, of course, very relevant official meetings with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.  We talked about the practicalities of this process, the judicity of this process.  We have seen that your authorities are very committed to what is necessary to achieve the steps to move forward this process.  So far we need the necessary movements to take this to the International Court of Justice, that will be the only place where this can be resolved.  It will be necessary to fix a date in order that the people can decide about this matter and of course we need to keep building trust between the two countries and that means that our actions and the actions of those authorities of both countries have to be on that sense, in that direction to remove anything that is not, to remove anything that can be an obstacle in that way.  To really work the peace for these people.”