Press, public had many questions
Janelle Chanona
“And of course today wouldn’t have been a press conference if there wasn’t a question and answer section, which included members from the media and concerned citizens. Fielding most of those questions was Belize’s facilitator Sir Shridath Ramphal.”
Stewart Krohn
“I’ve got to say a word about Sir Shridath Ramphal. This is a man who knows his stuff. Not only is he a fellow used to dealing with a hostile crowd, I think it was asked earlier on some accusations made about what he would have done in the situation with Guyana and their land dispute with Venezuela. He handled that obviously as someone who has fielded tough questions before. And it wasn’t just his manner, his ability to kind of disarm a hostile questioner, it was also I think it was evident that he, because he wrote these proposals, along with Paul Reichler, he knows them inside and outside, I mean I can’t even use and adjective to describe how well he knows them.”
Janelle Chanona
“Thoroughly”
Stewart Krohn
“So thoroughly that he doesn’t have to grasp for words, and I think the same was true for Luigi Enaudi. I think we’ve compiled a small sampling of some of those questions and answers, so let’s roll that tape and see what we’ve got.”
Citizen #1
“But I want to say this, I want to know why Guatemala act as a bully and everybody allows her to bully us?”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“You were at school?”
Citizen #1
“I’m still at school.”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“You’ve had bullies at your school?”
Citizen #1
“Yes.”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“Alright, nobody made them bullies, nobody permitted them to be bullies, they were just bullies. And you had to deal with them.”
Citizen #1
“No, they had the principal that you had to go to.”
(Crowd laughs)
Citizen #2
“You said that the borders under the 1859 Treaty are being recognised, but does this entail any redrawing of the border line or the movement of any markers?”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“No it doesn’t. In fact, the co-ordinates that have been mentioned, identify the western border of Belize, as starting from the existing marker at Gracias a Dios, going northward to the marker at Garbutt’s Falls and then proceeding due north to the latitude seventeen degrees, forty-nine minutes.”
Citizen #2
“So the border line remains as it has been?”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“It remains as it is prescribed in the constitution.”
(Applause)
Citizen #3
“In referring to the co-ordinates contained in this document, there will be a slight, very slight cessation of land.”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“No, there would not be. You are setting up… you’re doing the same as a previous colleague. You’re setting up your own hypothesis and answering the question in relation to it. No! Belize’s true borders remain as they always were. There is no question of cession of land at all.”
Citizen #3
“But we were always taught and we always believed that our borders ended at Aguas Turbias.”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“Then maybe you have been wrongly taught.”
(Crowd laughs)
Citizen #3
“Well I would hope that the Minister of Education here this afternoon can clarify it, because all the textbooks speak of Aguas Turbias.”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“Well you can do better. You can look at the 1859 Treaty, you will see nothing of Aguas Turbias.”
Citizen #3
“For clarification, the co-ordinates as contained in the recommendations fall a little to the right of the border at Aguas Turbias.”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“Not the border marker. Don’t use ambiguous language.”
Citizen #3
“Monument.”
Sir Shridath Ramphal
“…Of the marker defining the boundary between Guatemala and Mexico.”
Citizen #3
“The Aguas Turbias marker, it falls a little to the right of that.”
Ernesto Vasquez
“Stewart, let me ask you something. Earlier you said that it was presented succinctly and that the proposals were very clear the way they were put. You think a lot of us were expecting a long document that would take half an hour to read and a lot of lawyeress language and jargon we would need nights staying up to read the fine print? You think many people are surprised the way it was presented?”
Stewart Krohn
“Well, let’s be clear, that document that you’re talking about, with the detailed language does exist. What in fact Sir Shridath did, I think Dean Lindo may have mentioned it, he refers to it as an executive summary, and that’s what it was. Frankly, to answer your question, I was expecting indeed, I was sure that press conference was going to go well past 6:00 because I thought that they would go through every line by line. I was kind of pleasantly surprised that they didn?t from a broadcasting point of view, but I think what will happen next, is as that detailed document, along with the maps that go with it, as that is discussed in detail over the next seventy-five days, I think there will be a lot more discussion. But in retrospect, I think the way they did it with Sir Shridath kind of summarising it, probably was for the best.”
Ernesto Vasquez
“Stewart I was in the room and I got some of the mood and emotions were running high. I got a feeling that those who really wanted to oppose this; they were looking for ways to do that. Did you get that same feeling, they were grasping for ways to oppose it?”
Stewart Krohn
“Well I think that fact that it was put out for the first time today, it’s not like those people who were prone to sabotaging the document, or sabotaging the process, or even just opposing it; when you look at something for the first time, it’s not very conducive to setting up a strategy to knock it. So I think that may be the case, but I think over the next few months, over the next seventy-five days, I think the people who are dead set against this particular proposal, will find their ways to get into the details of it, as to what their strategy may have been today. Put it this way, I don’t think it was their finest hour, but I think that was by necessity.”
Ernesto Vasquez
“We have until the end of November to make the referenda. What do you think is going to influence mostly the man on the street in Belize, discussing the proposals? History now will come up and there’s a song that says, “not one blade of grass, not one grain of sand”, and this has been ingrained in the attitude that we’re going to treat these proposals. Do you think emotions are going to treat it more than looking at it logically and having an open mind? What do you think will influence Belizeans on the street to decide how to vote?”
Stewart Krohn
“Well Ernesto I’m gonna give a brief answer, but I’m gonna pass it to Janelle because I think our generation has gone through these things a couple times and I think the way things worked in the past may not be the way they work today. I would want to hear what Janelle has to say about how her generation is gonna look at it, because the people who would be out there throwing rocks are not me and you and our colleagues, they are people your age Janelle. So how do you think they might react.”
Janelle Chanona
“Well I would not dare to pretend to be a spokesperson for my generation, but personally speaking, I think what we’re doing right here will critically impact the way this is received by the public. The role of the media, I think will play a crucial role in how it is or it isn’t greeted by the public. I think a lot of the newspaper reports, the radio broadcast, the television broadcasts that are going to come about within the next seventy-five days are going to influence the way people think. And I think if most of the people in journalism stick to the “keep your mind open campaign, or if they stick to history, or if they just kind of play it down the line and say, here is the information, you make up your own mind, I think whatever direction the majority of the leaders in the media decide to take it, I think that is how it will pan it. And I think governments on both sides of the border know this, and talking to some people who have been analysing the situation, I know that one thing they are worried about is that because the Opposition in Guatemala has managed to kind of influence or has gained sympathy from the press, they are hoping that… or they are fearing that the press there will use their influence to negatively impact this process. So I think the role of the media, and as excited as I am to be working in this field right now, I think it’s incredible the amount of power that we’ll have over this whole process. But that’s just my humble opinion.”
Ernesto Vasquez
“Stewart, I think she did a good job of that just now.”
Stewart Krohn
“Just to add to what Janelle was saying, I feel, as a News Director and as a station manager a very great sense of responsibility. And I think all of us who own media houses or manage media houses are doing a bit of soul searching around this time and I think we’ve just got to play it as straight as we can and whatever voices are out there, we’ve got to be the conduit for those voices. It doesn’t mean we turn our respective stations and media houses over to the public, I think we have to show some leadership, but I think there is plenty of room within these proposals, I think the envelope is wide enough that everyone can have his or her voice heard and in the end when we get in that voting booth, it’s gonna be just us and hopefully we can provide the information that everyone can make an informed decision. It?s got to be that way.”
