Foreign Minister Discusses Latest U.S Travel Advisory
Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory to Americans visiting Belize in which it informed that they should exercise increased caution in the country due to crime and that some areas have increased risk. Today when we spoke with him, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eamon Courtenay said that he had a discussion with the U.S. Ambassador to Belize, Michelle Kwan on the matter. And while he was willing to talk about it, when we raised the subject with Kwan, she was brief on it and only assured that the Belize’s position on the Israeli/Palestinian war had no relation to this latest advisory.
Eamon Courtenay
Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“I had a meeting this morning with the U. S. Ambassador to discuss that and other issues. We shared with her the statistics from the Belize Police Department, which shows that crime across Belize, and specifically in Belize City, has gone down significantly, thanks to the efforts of the Belize Police Department. And therefore, we said to her that we were very disappointed that they would issue the advisory that they did. We agreed to share information and to go forward in the future and to ensure that the accurate data is taken into account prior to making any assessment. But to your question, there is absolutely no correlation between our position on the Israel Gaza war and the Travel advisory that was issued by the Americans, and I think you should confirm that with the U.S. Ambassador.”
Reporter
“What do you make of Israel’s response to Belize? They condemned Belize’s stance and aligned Belize with evil.”
Eamon Courtenay
“Well, there is nothing about that that I can say publicly. It wouldn’t be diplomatic.”
Michelle Kwan, U.S Ambassador to Belize
“The travel advisory – there is no substantive change to the travel advisory. It updates every six months.”
Marion Ali
“Does the advisory have anything to do with Israel and Belize, Belize’s position?”
Eamon Courtenay
“No, it’s a separate assessment.”
Marion Ali
“Do you have any comments about what’s going on with Israel and Belize?”
Eamon Courtenay
“I’d like to focus on the Peace Corps event. I’d like to take this moment to talk about peace.”
