Agree to Disagree on Offensive Map

Wilfred Elrington

Belize and Guatemala traded protest notes earlier this year over two inter-linked issues: Guatemala employing offensive maps of the countries linked together except for a jagged line, and Belize using the word ‘border’ in a documentary about the Belize Defence Force. While one seems heavier than the other, Foreign Minister Elrington said they agreed to disagree, reinforcing the need to live together peacefully.

Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“There was issues raised because Guatemala was including in their education campaign on their maps, they have Belize separated only by jagged lines and we protested that; they of course had protested a program which we had had whereby we showed the B.D.F. patrolling our borders – they don’t like our use of the word border; adjacency line. But I told them that we have got to protest these issues that make any suggestion that Belize is a part of Guatemala; and we know that they would protest as well, but so long as we do it peacefully and in a rational way that should not be a problem. We of course reiterated the fact that by virtue of the 2005 confidence building measures, we are required to do all in our power to ensure that things don’t get out of hand and that we handle matters in a mature and rational way rather than causing the situation to get out of hand.”