Guatemalan Prez Wants to Meet with G.O.B.

Alejandro Giammattei

As you know, a new government took over in Guatemala this week. The president is conservative Alejandro Giammattei, and while not much was heard from him in respect of the territorial claim during the campaign, on Thursday he spoke on the matter. Now, Guatemala is make submissions this year in the International Court of Justice and it has named a judge.  In an interview, Giammattei tells the media that he wants to meet with the government either in Belmopan or at the Adjacency zone. 

Alejandro Giammattei, President of Guatemala [Translated]

“We spoke about something very interesting. We asked him to facilitate a meeting with the Government of Belize. We are proposing that it be held in a week from this Sunday, so that we can go, accompanied by the O.A.S., to speak to the Government of Belize—be it in Belmopan or in the adjacency zone so that we can put aside the issue of the International Court of Justice, starting with re-establishing the ties we have with Belize, in areas such as trade and tourism. There are many things that unite us, aside from fighting. So what we want is a good relationship. They liked the idea and the Foreign Minister Brolo, will be sending a note to the O.A.S. so that they serve as facilitators and that there is always an intermediary in these preliminary discussions since later it would not be required. But it is for them to introduce us a new government since we are very interested in having good relations with all our neighbors.”

In the same interview, Giammattei cut diplomatic ties with the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro, ordering the closure of its embassy in Caracas. He said, “We have instructed the foreign minister that the only person left in the embassy in Venezuela should return, and that we definitively end relations with the government of Venezuela. We are going to close the embassy.”