Youth forum looks at proposals
After an initial flurry of publicity surrounding the introduction of the proposals to end the Guatemalan claim, the debate has inevitably cooled as people ostensibly give the documents a closer read. Today, however, one important group of citizens gathered to work out their opinions. News 5’s Marion Ali reports.
Marion Ali, Reporting
With Belizeans and Guatemalans having just under two months to make up their minds on the peace proposals, youths, primarily Belize City high-schoolers, today had the chance to make their opinions known.
They were speaking at a forum organised by the Youth for the Future Initiative, the Belize Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, the YMCA, and YWCA.
The forum drew an audience of six hundred to the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall. Those at the head table hailed from five secondary-level institutions, and a junior college. And they came with varied feelings on the issue.
Shanta Morrison, St. John’s College Junior College
“I personally feel that the proposal is a good idea and most Belizeans should pay more attention to it and be more involved in it because Belize is benefiting from it more than anything, and we’re gaining a lot. And with the eco park and the E.E.Z., we would be able to gain from it through health, social factors, education, and research.”
Kiphanie Wade, Gwen Lizarraga High School
“Well I don’t see proposals as necessary because I don’t see it necessary for Guatemala to have any claim over our country. We have independence for so many years now and all of a sudden this proposal has popped up again, because as I said, it came up earlier, every like five to four years it comes up. And now it’s here and it’s driving our country wild and have us in this shaky state because we don’t know where to stand.”
Brenda Armstrong is Principal of Wesley College.
Brenda Armstrong, Principal, Wesley College
“I would hope that he way the Foreign Minister presented it, would at least trip off the extras and help them to focus. Once you focus, it’s land, sea, the types of sea and then the economic zone…well the type of sea includes the economic zone, and then the fund. It takes away some of the trappings, even myself, to simplify.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Assad Shoman reported on the current situation among the facilitators and the negotiating teams.
Assad Shoman, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“One of the main things we’re discussing right now is the confidence-building measures. The facilitators propose that we should have an extension of the confidence-building measures. The Guatemalans feel that they need to suggest some modifications of the measures, because this was done two years ago and we might need to refine it in one way or another. So we’re hoping that there’ll be a technical meeting on that subject soon to hear their proposals and maybe for us to give our own as well, because the truth is that we don’t need the confidence-building measures as they were done at that time. Times have changed, certain things have moved ahead. So we need to look at the whole thing as of today and see what is needed to be done.”
Shoman says a ministerial level meeting will more than likely follow the technical meeting later this month. With regard to the controversial Juda community, which extends illegally into Belize, two O.A.S. missions have visited the site, one on September twentieth, the other over the last two days.
Assad Shoman
“Both Sergio Caramagna–who took part in the first one–and Chris Hernandez Roy from the headquarters of the O.A.S. were here. And they visited the scene as usual, with representatives of both sides accompanying them. I know that they had meetings, yesterday I believe, with the municipality of Melchor, Mayor and the Councillors. They visited the site, they took notes, they took little sketches and so on, they measured where they were, things like that.”
That report is expected to be made known to the facilitators by next Wednesday, after which they will make recommendations to the respective countries. Marion Ali for News 5.
Youth for the Future will host two more public meetings. The next one will take place in a few weeks time in Punta Gorda. The results will be forwarded to the Prime Minister.
