Prime Minister Returns; Says He Personally Supports I.C.J.

The Prime Minister had not appeared in front of the media since his last press conference on March eighteenth, but today he did for the better part of two hours. Now, the Government has set a fixed date of April tenth, 2019 for a referendum to be held on whether the territorial dispute with Guatemala should be taken to the International Court of Justice for resolution.  Since that announcement was made two weeks ago, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel Polanco and O.A.S. Secretary General Luis Almagro have all commended the Barrow administration for finalizing the date. That issue of national importance was the first in a varied list of topics that was discussed during the briefing.  Prime Minister Dean Barrow began with his own position on the I.C.J.

Dean Barrow

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“I am completely convinced that going to the ICJ, and therefore voting yes in the referendum, is absolutely the correct choice for our country.  I understand at the same time that for all of us this is a particularly emotional issue and so far opinions are clearly very much divided with respect to this question of the ICJ.  For me, there are several reasons that inform my own personal decision.  I first of all asked myself if we don’t go to the ICJ what is the option, and I can’t come up with a satisfactory answer.  More positively, I am as certain as one can be of anything in human affairs that our case at the ICJ is so watertight, there is no way we could suffer any setback/loss in consequence of an ICJ hearing.  And, of course, while a decision in our favor, which I fully anticipate and expect, would not put to an end all the issues that currently exist between us and Guatemala, it would certainly confer the resolution legally of the dispute.  In other words, such problems as might continue after an ICJ vote in our favor would be no more than the problems that one can expect as a consequence of the geographic space that we share with Guatemala and the difficulties pertaining to encroachments and that sort of thing.”