PM Barrow Speaks on National Security Council

Dean Barrow

That confusion about the actual claim seems to give rise to some confusion about the seriousness and significance of Guatemala’s active ownership of the Sarstoon – ownership bolstered by military presence. The incident on Saturday when armed Guatemalan military came into Belizean waters to inform our B.D.F. soldiers that they could no longer go into the Sarstoon seemed like an overt and very brazen act of aggression. The Prime Minister seemed to take it as such, and convened an emergency session of the National Security Council. According to the Prime Minister, tensions in the Sarstoon were at an all-time high. We revisit his comment earlier this week for context.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“We are at a juncture where the National Security Council has concluded its meeting given the potential for a repeat of what happened on Saturday….given the potential for escalation of tensions, given the potential for the possibility of an outbreak of hostilities resulting in an exchange of gunfire and possibility of casualties. Aas we go forward and as I said as we determine exactly how we proceed in the face of possible contingencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is going to lay out a plan with as much exactitude as possible for diplomatic campaigns so that again the international community can know at all times precisely what the position is and can be seized in detail of Belize’s case.”