Foreign Minister Gives Update on Multimillion-Dollar Referendum Campaign

The referendum to take the territorial dispute between Belize and Guatemala to the International Court of Justice is less than six months away. But the engine of the public awareness campaign, for Belizeans to take a very informed decision on April twelfth, appears to be stuttering. In the past few weeks, advertising as it relates to the print and broadcast media, has been minimal.  Today, when we caught up with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred Elrington, News Five asked him for an update on the multimillion-dollar campaign and it is proceeding. The Minister says it is going.

Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington

Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“What the unit has been doing is equivalent to what people do when they are building a big structure; you do the foundation work. You get your people ready who are going to do the education, you get the materials ready and you do make the contracts for the publication and the like; that kind of work is not too visible. Generally when you doing foundation work it is not visible; it is when you come out that ground and then you are very visible. And I can tell you that in a very short while you will be tired of seeing and hearing advertisement in every media whatsoever relating to the I.C.J.  You are going to hear that incessantly for the next six months. The truth is if I were a rich man, I would be publicizing it on the television every minute of the day because for me, it is such an important issue. Belizeans must in fact know the facts and the facts indicate that the only way we can guarantee our safety is by resolving the dispute.”