COLA protests at the office of the O.A.S. and calls Minister Sedi Elrington a traitor

The fiery executives of Citizens Organized for Liberty Through Action turned up the heat today on the Organization of American States and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. They headed this morning to the O.A.S. office in the city to protest the erroneous information put out by the O.A.S. in respect of the killing of a Guatemalan national in Belizean territory. A week ago, Alberto Martinez Alonzo was killed while he was illegally logging in the Columbia River Forest Reserve, but the O.A.S. said it happened in the Adjacency Zone. COLA this morning said that they want a retraction and an apology from the O.A.S. News Five’s Andrea Polanco reports.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

An imitation of the O.A.S. flag with the superimposed image of Minister Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington’ in the center being clobbered in the head by elements of the Belize’s Coat of Arms, was doused with gasoline and set ablaze in front of the O.A.S. Office on Blue Marlin Boulevard.  COLA members added hand-made posters with the picture of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred Elrington, as fuel to the fire.  President of the organization, Giovanni Brackett says that the desecration of the flag is symbolic of their stance on the organization’s report on the incident of the Guatemalan illegal logger killed by B.D.F. soldiers inside Belizean territory last week. Brackett says that the O.A.S. erred not once but twice.

Giovanni Brackett, President, COLA

“In two statement issued by the O.A.S. stated that first it happened by the border, near the border and the second one, which is a correction, which was no correction it was inaccurate, that it occurred in the adjacency zone. We are outraged at COLA for this statement because it shows, to me that the O.A.S. is not carrying out their due diligence; secondly, they are a well established organization, a central organ that is mediating between Belize and Guatemala and several other countries that have conflicts. So what we are saying is that Belize may not be an Israel; we may not be United States, but we are a people with blood running through our veins. We settled here and this is our property and there is no way on God’s green, how the hell could they do something like this without reissuing a correction.”

In the mini demonstration, COLA identified the words, Traitor and Judas, with Minister Elrington; the organization says that they are dissatisfied with his role in the issue.

Giovanni Brackett

Giovanni Brackett

“We don’t like to get personal but when you can defend an inaccurate statement issued by the Secretary General of the O.A.S., you are telling me that you are no longer Belizean; you need to move and pack your things and go to Guatemala. You can’t defend the rights of your people; you can’t stand up for Belizeans? I mean, my God, who pay your pay? This man sits up in his blue world; I don’t know where he lives, up in the clouds, and he wants to tell us that, ‘oh, the Sec Gen didn’t mean what he said,’ and that we shouldn’t have no position to say issue a corrected statement. This is outrageous; this is outrageous! First this man calls our border artificial; now this man is defending an inaccurate statement issued by the Secretary General.”

Jules Vasquez 7News

“The understanding was that the mis-statemement came out of the undue pressure supposedly put on O.A.S. by the Guatemalans; is this acceptable explanation to COLA?”

Giovanni Brackett, President, COLA

“Certainly not; look at the response from the side of Guatemala when this incident took place, they immediately called a press conference informing their people. They’ve characterized our post that we place at the border there as militarizing the border; this incident they are saying that we are starting to attack the Guatemalan peasants;  yet, our Minister of Foreign Affairs doesn’t even hold a press conference; so let’s go start first, no pressure deh unda fi he backside that’s why he could just si down deh and if you neva call he Jules, yuh nuh mi wah get no statement; secondly, it seems that we pay he fi do nada so inna fi he mind, anything that might be acceptable to he, ih nuh acceptable to we at COLA,  because we understand the seriousness and detriment of this situation.”

COLA charges that the O.A.S reports are indicative of bias towards Guatemala. Brackett say the statement must be corrected.

Giovanni Brackett

“We nuh gwein dah no I.C.J. if ih left up to COLA; we nuh gwein dah no I.C.J. because we done si the O.A.S. done have partiality to Guatemala; ih evident. The only way deh could try defend that dah issue wah state ah retractment and issue wah apology to Belize. We hope that they will have some sense of conscience and that they will know that there are people in Belize who are unhappy with their statement; that’s the first thing. And if we si that they refuse, out of arrogance, to issue a statement of correction then it tells me then maybe that we need to remove this office out of here and then maybe we nuh need fi stand out ah here and we need fi take it down to the ground by any means necessary.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.

The O.A.S. office in Belize City was closed during the protest. The office has been without a representative for months.