P.M. makes strong pitch for proposals
For two days he had remained silent while the local and foreign architects of the proposals to end the Guatemalan claim explained them to anyone who would listen. But this afternoon Prime Minister Said Musa stepped up and put his not inconsiderable weight firmly in favour of a settlement. Janelle Chanona reports.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“The People’s United Party views these proposals as the best opportunity for a final and just settlement to the unfounded, yet ever present, Guatemalan claim to Belize.”
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
That statement would set the tone of the People’s United Party’s position on the proposals presented by the facilitators to end the Guatemalan claim to Belize.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“I speak for the Government of Belize, but of course I have been strengthened by the judgement of my party, the People’s United Party, that the interests of our nation and of all its people lie in our seizing this moment of destiny.”
Flanked by several members of Cabinet and before an audience of party supporters, PUP Leader and Prime Minister of Belize, Said Musa, explained why they have decided to give total support to the proposals package. First the P.M. addressed the land issue and the concerns surrounding the realignment of the border from the Aguas Turbias monument to its real position according to the 1859 treaty.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“This marker has been assumed by Belize for many years to be the agreed marker as between Belize and Guatemala but that is not in fact the case. I have been advised that when the true point of intersection, due north from Garbutt’s Falls and at the seventeen degrees forty-nine minutes north latitude point is determined scientifically, it is likely to be about two hundred meters to the east of the Aguas Turbias marker. The result will be a sliver of land which has been estimated by our Boundary Commissioner, Lindsay Belisle, as some three point three square miles and which we have hitherto considered as a part of Belize will revert to its rightful owner, Guatemala, for it is land that was never truly part of Belize. It has never been used or occupied by any Belizean, to our knowledge. It is right and honourable that we should accept this conclusion of the facilitators.”
The Prime Minister then turned attention towards the proposal which would give Guatemala access to Belizean waters and cayes.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Belize benefits in many ways, not least through the involvement of Honduras giving the maritime arrangements a trilateral character–one therefore, that benefits in stability from third party participation. This in turn imparts to the entire package enhanced durability, not only at the level of principle, but also at the level of practicality. The involvement of Honduras is a matter for much satisfaction. Such involvement has made it possible to provide Guatemala, in the context of a first time delimitation of Exclusive Economic Zones in the area, an Exclusive Economic Zone in keeping with the United Nations Convention on the law of the sea. Belize’s E.E.Z. has never before been delimited with any of its neighbours. Whenever we do so, the law of the sea convention will require us to provide “an equitable solution to the circumstance of Guatemala being geographically disadvantaged in the Gulf of Honduras.” That is a legal obligation, but it is also a neighbourly one. The facilitators propose that both Honduras and Belize should facilitate in equal part, a Guatemalan E.E.Z. of two thousand square nautical miles. It has been said that Guatemala would not receive so large an area from an arbitral proceeding. That may or may not be so, but where doing right also facilitates the overall settlement in which Belize’s vital interests are preserved, it would surely be wrong to do otherwise.”
“Similarly enlightened is the proposal for the Belize-Honduras-Guatemala ecological park, whose essential character is for the conservation of the resources of the area and the development of sustainable eco-tourism. Three land areas are included in the ecological park: coastal areas of Guatemala and Honduras respectively and the Sapodilla Cayes. The same provisions apply to all three areas. In no case is there any impairment of sovereignty or sovereign rights. In all cases, and therefore in the specific case of the Sapodillas, the area remains under the full sovereignty, administrative control and the general laws of Belize, including customs and immigration laws, which will continue to apply as they now do.”
And then it was time to field questions…
Janelle Chanona
“Latest reports out of Guatemala City are that the presentation of the proposals package there was very negative. And in fact one official told me it couldn’t have been more night and day as to presentation and delivery when comparing how it was done in Belize and how it was done in Guatemala. What are your views on this?”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“We have our own democracy in Belize and they have their own form of democracy there in Guatemala, and we have to respect their process the way their thing. But we certainly hope that we can move to the next stage, whereby the people of both countries will decide on this issue. I think we need to take this thing out of the hands of politicians, and I have no doubt the Guatemalan people will do the right thing.” (Applause)
But even with the proposals receiving lacklustre reviews across the border, the P.M. was optimistic that if Belize voted yes come referendum day and Guatemala chose no, we would not go back to square one.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“There would not be a settlement but I can tell you Belize would have maintained the high moral ground and the full support of the international community.” (Applause)
But at the border area near Benque, tension on the ground is still high and the P.M. was clear on his position.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“These people are in Belize and they will have to go.”
“The Judah situation points out perhaps one of the strongest arguments why we need to have a definitive solution to know exactly where the border line is, so there can be no dispute, no Guatemalan citizen can say, but this is Belize, no Belizean citizen can say this is Belize when it is Guatemala. We need to be clear and that border line needs to be opened, cleared and demystified as the man said, so there can be no doubt about it.”
But tonight what is in doubt is whether the two main political parties will come to blows on this sensitive issue as the P.M. was unable to say whether the deadline issued by the UDP can be met.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“As to whether thirty days will be sufficient, only time will tell. But I can assure you that we will do everything possible to satisfy the concerns of everyone in Belize and in explaining these proposals in detail, I think that’s the exercise that we must now be engaged with.”
Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
Musa also reported that on Friday O.A.S. representative Sergio Caramagna will arrive in Belize to investigate the presence of illegal Guatemalan settlers in the border area near Benque Viejo.
