Belizeans Get Vocal about the Aggression by the GAF

Guatemalan military officers have been caught on camera bullying the Belize Defense Force in the Sarstoon which they now fully control. The B.D.F. is now told to “respect the protocol” to traverse the river. While there is anger in many quarters, earlier today we canvassed the opinion of regular folks on the disturbing situation in the Sarstoon. Here is what they had to say.

Resident #1

“It is very saddening, but I am not surprised. As a matter of fact, years ago I put on Facebook that we should close our borders and I realized that it would have taken some time because we would have had to put some things in place for example, a lot of Belizeans go across to Guatemala for health care.”

Duane Moody

“We’ve seen videos of where the Guatemalan military has been aggressing our B.D.F. officers on the Sarstoon, inside Belizean territory. What’s your take on that? What do you feel about what’s been happening in the Sarstoon and what’s been happening over these past months?”

Resident #2

“Make I ask you wah question. This dah Belize or not? We have control over fi we borders or not? That dah my question because at the end of the day, everything that is happening on the Sarstoon, all the conflicts and thing to me, di come from the Guatemalan side; that dah my belief. So at the end of the day, do we have any power to control what is ours? If you can see, enough Guatemalans are in our waters, but fi we force can’t go ina fi we own waters because we di get blocked by the Guatemalans. So do we have any power after all is said and done?”

Duane Moody

“How do you feel about what has been happening in the Sarstoon? Guatemalan Armed Forces have been telling our B.D.F. soldiers to respect the protocol; they’ve exercised sovereignty over waters that we know dah fi we. How do you feel about that?”

Resident #3

“Basically I noh happy about the situation because it seems as if the individual never leaked that information to the media, Belize still never mi wah know that that actually happened in the first place.”

 Duane Moody

“What do feel about what’s happening down there? Is it that we have lost the Sarstoon?”

Resident #3

“Well in my humble opinion, I believe so. And likewise, I don’t believe that the Prime Minister and the General and the powers that be should be talking about peace talk because it is obvious that Jimmy Morales, the lee piaso from Guatemala, he noh deh pan no peace business; he means business. Eventually he’ll be coming here. This Guatemala issue is not a joke; it’s not a joke no more. We done see what happen already last week Wednesday dah Sarstoon with dehn two boatful of Guatemalan soldiers and fi we Belizean soldiers. Dehn Guatemalan have dehn finger on the trigger; dehn bwai ready fi shoot. Dah only Belize di talk about peace and peace and peace; peace talk stop.”

Resident #4

“I recognize the whole dispute and the idea that Guatemala has decided that they have taken over…they consider it their territory. The conflict to me that I see going on is that the population has decided that the government is not doing its part. For me, the situation is being more it’s us to decide what we want to do now. Are we going to be political or patriotic? And this is where the line is drawn—it is no longer about P.U.P./U.D.P.—it is more about we having to trust our government that they are doing the right decision. Recently with the law that has taken effect, many people are upset about the law. but I think the government is moving in the right direction; they are taking tactics to protect our people. We have to be conscious that it is a very scary situation yes, but at this time there is no need…actually there is an urgency to be peaceful, to be calm and to trust in our government.”