Why Are Guats Still Following B.D.F. Up Sarstoon?

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

Following last week’s encounter between a team of Belizean youth basketballers and members of the Guatemalan Armed Forces, in which the latter tried but failed to stop them circling Sarstoon Island, it appears the Guatemalan army is up to its old tricks again. The GAF have made a habit of following any Belizean craft or vessel, whether belonging to the Belize Defence Force or private individuals, traveling up the Sarstoon River, which they have claimed as their own. This is despite Belize’s efforts to work toward a Sarstoon Protocol covering treatment of each country’s interests in the area. On Tuesday morning around nine, sixteen B.D.F. soldiers were traveling to the Cadenas outpost for the regular changeover when they caught sight of their counterparts from Guatemala tailing them. Maheia said the Guatemalan Armed Forces soldiers, numbering ten, were “brazen” and did not attempt to hide their intentions. The B.D.F. proceeded as normal and there was no exchange between the soldiers. But according to Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington, he had hoped, to no avail, that Guatemala would have given up that practice despite their claim to all of the Sarstoon River.

Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“No, I had no knowledge of that.”

Reporter

“And it’s still the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is dealing with all such matters, not the Defence Ministry, in terms of comments to the media?”

Wilfred Elrington

“The defense people are the ones who go up there, if they had any issue on it they would let us know. They haven’t communicated anything to me, so I am not in a position to make any comment on it.”

Reporter

“But if that were happening now it would be a break in practice of late?”

Wilfred Elrington

“I am not sure whether they had stopped completely tailing our people; I had assumed that that had stopped but I can’t tell you with any degree of certainty that they had stopped; I can’t tell you with any degree of certainty.”