P.U.P. Deputy Leader and Senator Recount Sarstoon Island Expedition

Lisa Shoman

The People’s United Party did not form a part of the expedition, but former P.U.P. Foreign Minister and current Senator Lisa Shoman was present and accounted for…as was P.U.P. Deputy Leader Carolyn Trench-Sandiford, who is a member of the Belize Territorial Volunteers. Both took the opportunity to recount their experiences of Sunday’s Sarstoon incident, and both insist, as has everyone who was there, that at no time did any Belizean vessel stray into Guatemalan territory. 

Lisa Shoman, P.U.P. Senator

“It was absolutely and totally within our rights to go to Sarstoon, to travel around Sarstoon Island and we are all in agreement that (a) we must reassert our rights over the Sarstoon and that the Forward Operating Base must be built. I am pleased to be able to say that I was wrong. Because when I was interviewed at the sandbank I was not of the opinion at that point in time that we would have been harassed or even approached by the Guatemalans. As events turned out, not only were we approached but they tried to prevent the boats from going.”

Carolyn Trench-Sandiford

Carolyn Trench-Sandiford, P.U.P. Deputy Leader

“I was in the boat that the Guatemalan military continued to ram, and while they were ramming our boat they were telling us that if we touched their boat it would be considered an act of aggression and then they the military would have the right to exert force upon us. I was there when they spoke of calling for their infantry. At all times we were in the Northern portion of the creek near the Southern shore of the mainland. At no time did we stray into Guatemalan territory. In fact, they were in our territory. When the O.A.S. came by we asked the question – are we not in our territory and they said yes, at that point in time we were. This happened a week or so after the Foreign Minister of Belize was asking the Belizean people to give peace a chance. How can we as Belizeans believe in the authenticity of that message when in our own country we are continuously being aggressed by the Guatemalan military? That is something that the Guatemalan military will have to answer.”