“Sedi” Elrington says OAS always monitoring situation

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

Belize will have to complete a report on the incident in a twenty-one day period and as far as we know, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, is yet to receive the file on the shooting that happened well within Belize in the Ceibo Chico area of the Chiquibul. According to Elrington, the Organization of American States, whose presence in the Adjacency Zone helps to mediate hostilities between Belize and Guatemala, is monitoring the situation closely.  Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister Diane Ablonczy, who was in Belize last week, has also held discussions with foreign affairs representatives from both countries to ease tensions.

Isani Cayetano

“What is the current position of the Organization of American States with regards to the most recent incident in the Chiquibul?”

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

“The Organization of American States is always present whenever we have these incidents because they really are like “big brothering” us to ensure that none of these incidents get out of hand and create conflict.  So they are very well aware of it, they have been talking to us and they have been talking to the Guatemalans.  We are very fortunate too that very recently we had the Canadian minister here, Marie Ablonzcy and she has also talked to the Guatemalans and talked to us about it.  So, the situation is certainly much less tense than it was last week.  I’m very glad the foreign minister called to say that really what he wants is to see whether we can come up with a proposal for us to be able to deal with their citizens without the intervention resulting in casualties.”

Later in the newscast, we’ll tell you what Elrington said about the ICJ referendum.