Former Foreign Affairs Ministers Did Not Want ‘Sedi’ in on I.C.J. Declaration Event
Lisa Shoman
Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington on Wednesday sat front row and center, observing five former Foreign Affairs Ministers sign a declaration expressing their firm support to take Guatemala’s claim to the ICJ for final resolution. It was a historic event that unfolded in Belize City with former P.U.P. Prime Minister Said Musa sharing the stage and views with current U.D.P. Prime Minister Dean Barrow on the I.C.J. topic. Musa and Barrow were joined by Lisa Shoman, Assad Shoman, and Godfrey Smith. Elrington, one of the strongest proponents of a YES vote, has been foreign minister for at least ten years. He remained among the audience, in the background—away from the cameras and microphone. Besides being an event for former Foreign Affairs Ministers only, Elrington was excluded for another reason. According to Shoman, the former Foreign Affairs Ministers expressed issues with Elrington being part of the affair.
Lisa Shoman, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
“He is not involved for one very simple reason. He is not a former Foreign Minister. This was meant to be two things.”
Marleni Cuellar
“But it could have been former and current.”
Lisa Shoman
“Hear me. Yes. But that is not the way it worked out. I think there were strong feelings about his participation on both sides of the political aisle and his presence I think would have been, in my opinion, a distraction to the central message.”
Wilfred Elrington
Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“I thought that it was exceedingly important that I be not in it for the very simple reason that everybody knows how I feel about it. I mean I have been criticized very severely for saying one time that ‘knowing all that I do and if you don’t go to the I.C.J., you have to be crazy’. So people know my view but they had not heard the view expressed, also too there was a perception that there were a disconnect and a difference between the Government’s position and the Opposition’s position.”
Hipolito Novelo
“We were made to understand that some of the Foreign Ministers have issued with you being on board on that plan because you are known to make controversial statements when it comes to this particular issue.”
Wilfred Elrington
“I am not aware of that but that is possible too. I am a person who attracts a lot of attention and I don’t mind because I don’t have to pay for TV ads when election time comes. I am already so well known that everybody knows my position. You will find that in politics, politicians always have difficulty with fellow politicians whether emanates from jealousy, feeling that you are actually doing something that I should be doing. People have different reasons for taking the point that they take but those things do not bother me.”
