If Guatemalan passports include Belize, entry into the country will be allowed
At the top of the newscast, you heard the Minister of Foreign Affairs say that the Belize delegation would walk out of the June O.A.S. General assembly if Guatemala produces images offensive to the territorial integrity of Belize. But Guatemala also intends on producing ten million passports that will annex Belize to its landmass. Would those Guatemalans be allowed to enter Belize? Elrington, who made it clear the decisions made had the approval of cabinet, had a surprising response. He laid out a case using China to explain the point that Belize should continue to do business with Guatemala.
Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Wilfred Elrington
“I don’t think we can afford to knee-jerk; take on these knee-jerk reactions and take on positions that are inimical to our own interests. When we stop doing business with Guatemala, who you think gets hurt most? We have over the years caused almost all our citrus industry to be worked by them; all our banana industry to be worked by then and a lot of other industries are being kept alive because of the activities of the Guatemalans who live here. We are putting together a roadmap for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet in relation to all these matters. I think the Prime Minister will get some inkling of what it contains sometime later today, but not even he knows basically what we are proposing. But I will say this to you; that what the Guatemalans are doing is exactly what the Chinese did in October or November of last year. They included, as you well know, there are in excess of two thousand articles on the internet showing the response of the various countries to the Chinese provocation by including their territories as part of China. So the Chinese in their passport has included part of India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and other countries. And what has India done? Really they has done the same thing—including in its passport, a map showing part of China as belonging to India. What the Vietnamese has done is simply inserted a separate piece of paper in the passport and stamped it, but they have refused stamp on the passport as issued by China. The Taiwanese has criticized it and they have said that it is unnecessary provocative. But it has not stopped the Taiwanese from being the largest investors in China and it has not stopped the Chinese from being largest tourist who go to Taiwan. Also too, although the Chinese are actually claiming and threatening to use military force against the Senkaku Island, which is also claimed by Japan, the Japanese Foreign Minister and President have made it very clear that that is not going to stop their trading activity with China. So no country affected by this mater in the southeast China seas is contemplating withdrawing their business activity with China or stop doing business with China.”
What the !@#$ is wrong with this man?. It seems his beared does not allow him to see beyond his nose. Why are these mother !@#$%^&* subservient to Guatemala?. I never believed I would live to see UDPs kissing Guatemala’s @$$. All the govt. of Belize needs to do is allow guest workers to come from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua to harvest our citrus, our banana and sugar cane. I can assure Barrow that the govts. of these republics would be happy to find employment for their citizens who are excellent hard working people. What is more, it would help us win more friends for our cause and even be able to isolate Guatemala in it’s own back yard. I have a feeling that this sob is pro- Guatemala. We need not fear the thousands of Guatemalans who have Belizean citizenship. Whom we need to fear, is this UDP govt. ………….
As a person who voted for UDP in the last election I will do the following if this is the case:
1. Actively seek a dissolution of Government and a call for Elections.
2. Join any Mass Protest held by the Opposition, Trade Unions etc…
3. Protest infront of the house of any member of the ruling government.
4. Spend my last dollar to fight against this government.
5. Any and everything necessary to change this direction.
The sorry A@@ opposition should be looking at appealing to any two members of the government so that elections can be called, this is beyound politics, this is patriotism and nationlism. Mr. Elrington is playing with fire, if he does not change course he could go down as a foolish misguided coward and maybe even a traitor in our history books.
The minister’s reasoning is specious and dangerously flawed. It’s not surprising, though, because he doesn’t have anyone in the ministry who can advise wisely and correctly. Okay, please bear with me:
Minister: <>
Response: you’re right, minister.
Minister: <>
Response: Who said we will stop doing any business? Who’s kneejerking now? we continue to do business with them without skipping a beat. As they present the misprinted passport at port of entry, we decline to accept it and in turn issue a purpose-specific Pass to enter Belize, and we smile when we do it. So you see, the ball is now in their court.
Minister: <>
Response: Negative. The Chinese claim parts of other countries. Guatemala is claiming all of Belize’s territory and soul. As to Taiwan, in the wake of the end of the chinese civil war in 1949, China claimed all of Taiwan and Taiwan claimed all of China (up until recently). Belize never claimed Guatemala or any part of it. NOW let me say something that you are cleverly (or unknowingly?) leaving out: The PRC government does not recognize nor accept passports bearing the name “Republic of China.” They, in similar mindset to Guatemala, consider Taiwan to be their 23rd province. Taiwanese visiting the PRC are issued a Pass.
MINISTER, we must neither recognize nor accept the Guatemalan passport that shows the annexation of Belize in Guatemalan territory. If this happens under your watch, you will have shown a lack of fortitude at a crucial moment in our history and you will leave a stinking name in the annals of Belize.
mein i thought this guy was wise but damn!!! he”s more dumb than a donkey. where’s the Belizean pride in him allowing guat to come in with such disrespectful passport. holy smokes this old skunk really angers me and hundreds of Belizeans. Sedi please resign and give someone else the job you’re just screwing up the case more and letting guatemala laugh at your stupidity every time you talk and the more you do the more they like it.
I have said it again and again. I agree wiith most of what you say here but I have to agree with the minister based on REALITY. We belizeans need to get out of belize a little more and realize that no one gives a damn about us but US. We are so small and insignifcant even if it hurts acccepting. Even our caricom brothers will vote for a bigger country that can help them and can offer them a bigger trade deal and is in their interest. We need to stop this big talk that we are so good at and learn diplomacy… Do you think a cockerspaniel stands up to a pitbull… NO…is it smart.. NO.. lets stop digging ourselves deeper in making the guatemalans more angry and lets use diplomacy.. these big talks and stances does not heelp and we do no have nothing to back it up with.. big mouths and talks does nothing good and think the minister is the only smart one here not because of CHOICE but our belizean reality. It would be great if we were the pitbull and guatemala the cockerspaniel hence the example of china..
Unfortunately the voters put him in charge and you must pay the Consequences. This is a horrible decission and have no idea where Belize will be heading. Wait, I know where we are heading! Next to Haiti! Good Luck Belize!!! Thank god I moved away from that place. I wont suffer… hahahhahahahahahahahhahahaha
Agree with Lucas. Change him,
SEDI and all his family have US passport,
He is about to die anyways, so his decisions doesn’t matter because he will not be around to suffer the consequences. They say once a man twice a child, he is in the last stage of life being a child again and doesn’t know better. “: Gimmie da card mek I wah whap sum sense inn ie grey head”
Will this man ever stage a protest against this Guatemalan crap?
This minister Elrington crazy, we do not need Guatemala they need us as we have a lot of Belizean going over there to shop as well as thousand of their students are in Belize going to Primary school as well as secondary school. We need to be straight and mean one thing, minister need to go and do what most of us Belizean think,that Jack ass Molina is a killer who kill many Guatemalans so what will he do to us Belizeans he want to own Belize by any means necessary as he have blood in his eyes last of the guerrilla killers. Let every Guatemalans that live in Belize make up their mind and either be a Belizean or a Guatemalan and if they do not want to give up Guatemala revoke their status and send them back. I have plenty friends who came from there and they all say that that president is crazy and he will make war but the people of Guatemala want to live in peace only a few are jackass.
whats wrong with these people, these politician brains must be turning into sponge, stupid stupid leaders. Belizeans should start boycott all things Guatemala, send them some message, close the border,
So, do we honor their passports and allow them in or do what the Vietnamese do to the Chinese & put what we accept as their landmass or whatever we need to make ourselves feel better & stamp that. Technically if we are now one country, they do not need a passport, the border no longer existed. And, why are our nonviolent offenders not working in the citrus and banana plantations.
There’s a lot of sensible comments here, but I think Alley Cat said it best.
We need to change government NOW, either by getting 2 honest UDP ministers to vote with the opposition to call elections, or by a general strike to bring down the government, or by calling on the Governor General to step in and throw Barrow & Co. out.
Elrington really is only pleading the case of some of the politically-connected citrus growers. THEY want cheap Guat laborers that they can use and abuse to make more money. Why not throw out the illegal Guats and let Belizeans have those jobs? The problem is the growers might have to pay decent wages, and they don’t want to do that. so let Guats in, and let Belizeans sit unemployed.
You don’t sell out your nation to do the lapdog bidding of farmers!
I back the PUP on this — and I’m neither UDP nor PUP. They promised NOT to let Guats in with the new offensive passports.
The problem with people like Sedi and Sofia is that they attempt to be “realistic” with Guatemala to the point that their “realism” actually becomes unrealistic.
By allowing those who hold these passports to enter Belizean territory and become naturalised Belizeans, the Belizean government is sending the message that Belize isn’t truly a sovereign nation-state; it is actually a territory whose existence is still dependent on the British. This gives Guatemala’s position and behaviour more legitimacy abroad, which, in turn, will cause them to persist with it.
Instead of trying to play this game of “realism” with these intransigent souls, the Belizean government must stand its ground by refusing the entry of those holding this passport and putting a memorandum on those resident Guatemalans being in line to get Belizean citizenship.
The Belizean government must also attempt to demonstrate to the rest of the world that, despite our best efforts to cooperate with the relevant organisations, the Guatemalans are doing their best to sabotage prior agreements and to adopt a hostile pose toward us and our people.
Not only would these acts significantly harm Guatemala in the eyes of those @ the ICJ, it would allow us to break out of our small physical size and gain more support from those countries who lack a proper knowledge of us and our situation.
@Yardman may have hit on the truth — is Sedi actually senile now, suffering from dementia? That would explain his babbling. Too bad he babbles in the name of the Jewel.
Sedi should understand there is a HUGE difference between the way the Chinese passports encroached on other nations, and how the Guat passports ENTIRELY ELIMINATE our nation!
China didn’t eliminate other countries, Guatemala does. In Guat eyes, there are NO Belizeans, andthey have no homeland at all.
IT’S NOT A BORDER DISPUTE, IT’S A DISPUTE ABOUT OUR RIGHT TO EXIST AT ALL.
BETTER GIVE BACK BELIZE TO THE BRITISH, THEN WE CAN DO MUCH BETTER !!!
MUCH LESS CORRUPTIONS THEN….I SAID MUCH LESS CORRUPTIONS .
YOU ARE RIGHT ERLINGTON…WITHOUT CHEAP LABOR YOU WOULD ENJOY LESS MONEY INTO YOUR POCKETS !!!
WITH THE SPANISH WORKING IN BELIZE ALL KIND OF BRIBES ARISE.
THAT IS WHY MOST BELIZEANS HAVE NO JOBS, BECAUSE THE BELIZEANS WILL NOT OFFER BRIBES FOR A JOB !!!
This is a crying shame to the human race as a whole and a mockery to Belize! Have you no dignity? If the Belizean minister of foreing affairs won’t fight for his own people then who will? This is why other countries laugh and spit on Belize and take Belizean for granted. Look at what North Korea is doing, taking the courage to take a stand, Belize should take a stand and not allow to be mocked in such way! SHAME SHAME SHAME!
Where is our prime minister on this issue,surprising since he brags of having a big mouth to shout at the pup,now let me hear you bark at the guats,miserables buitres
This happened to me at the northern border.
Unbelievable… but true… I was denied access to enter Belice
because the migration officer “did not believe me to be a tourist”,
as my Mexican migration card expires at the end of this month.
So far for the trip my socio from DF and me were making along
the Riviera Maya and supposedly Belize…
As a international worldwide traveler I have never been denied
access to any country, hilarious that Belize, whose business is
tourism, should be the first one…
Anyway, I will file an official complaint. Got the “hospitality” manager’s
data from the tourist module at the fronteer and will send her a mail.
Perhaps you can do the same… I will pass you the data later on.
Or do you have any other important contacts to send this form of abuse
and discrimination to ?
(Sofia) you’re dumb, are you even a Belizean? Diplomacy? Really? Dont you have any nationalism? Never surrender or bow down for no idiots we are smaller but for some good reason they fighting for this place. They arent no fools either. I rather die standing up and fighting that kneeled down! Emiliano Zapata!!