COLA President Brackett Urges ‘Get Tough’ Measures with Guats

COLA also noted in its press release that of those Guatemalans interviewed by Belizean reporters, including our News Five team which covered the recent referendum, the majority only want their government to recognize the borders, as they did in 1991, and avoid conflict. So what does COLA propose? Brackett told us Belize needs to lean more on our international partners to bring Guatemala to heel and implement “drastic” measures such as removing our business from Guatemala and stop granting Guatemalan citizens Belizean citizenship.

Geovannie Brackett

Geovannie Brackett, President, C.O.L.A.

“Before we had even reached this point of considering going to the International Court of Justice for a binding opinion, we should have asked for an advisory opinion that isn’t binding. That would have given us indication whether or not we should proceed. Guatemala stands to lose nothing, and so the fact that the claim is not a hot button issue in their country – it’s safe to say so – it’s a hot button for us because it is we who stand to lose. In Guatemala they don’t stand to lose anything; in fact, majority of their public opinion that we have garnered through various interviews, is that if they recover Belize or if they were to get any part of Belize, it would only benefit the four or five percent, the rich people that run their country. To answer your question in terms of solutions, what we need to do is make every vote for Belize count. If we vote for a country for the Olympics to be held there, let them know we need their support in recognizing Belize, calling on Guatemala to drop their claim. We need to regionally stand with our CARICOM brothers; at one point, CARICOM sent out a much stronger statement than our Foreign Minister or government. That shouldn’t happen because if you yourself won’t fight for your country, who else will fight for you? Recently, the Commonwealth gave a statement in support of Belize. We should make every vote at the United Nations count in our interest. And our leaders should have a well-defined plan. This claim is not the issue, because whether we solve the claim or not, what we will have is a border issue – incursions, immigration policies is what we need. The solution is this: when we spend four or five times [in Guatemala] the amount of money Guatemala spends in Belize, we should embark on having economic sanctions on them. Hear what: if you don’t respect us, we will close the borders. That seems drastic, but it only seems drastic to those who do not understand diplomatic relations. There are times when you need to take strict measures. In addition to that, I believe that we should follow our own laws and not give any citizenship to Guatemalans until this claim is resolved.”