Aug. 28: Moment of truth for Guatemalan claim

There is news on the Guatemalan front tonight, some of it exciting and the rest just downright perplexing. The exciting part is that after two years of involvement in what seemed to be a never-ending facilitation process, a date has been set for the final act of the drama. On August twenty-eighth facilitators Sir Shridath Ramphal and Paul Reichler will convene in Washington to present their recommendations for a just settlement of Guatemala’s claim to Belize. Officials in the Foreign Ministry here could not confirm exactly what form that presentation will take. Originally it was assumed that the proposals would be made public in Washington, but it now appears that the preference is for the presentation to be made privately, with both countries then publishing the text upon their return home. In either case there would be a sixty-day period of public debate followed by a referendum in which each country’s voters would simultaneously declare thumbs up or down on the entire package.

But there is a development on the border that is threatening to pre-empt Wednesday’s big show. That is the continuing incursion into Belizean territory of bulldozers belonging to the municipality of Melchor de Mencos. For a number of weeks the heavy equipment has been clearing land on the Belize side of the border and it is alleged that the Guatemalan town authorities are surveying and issuing lots, with construction of housing set to begin shortly. The Belize Government has made stern representation both to the Guatemalan government and the two facilitators, but reports from the border indicate that the work goes on. If the issue is not resolved by next week it would seem unlikely that the facilitation process–already a delicate affair at best–could proceed to its planned conclusion.