Lindsay Belisle Says Going to the I.C.J. Too Risky

Lindsay Belisle

Belisle went further to state that the one of the discrepancies he identified in the 1859 Treaty is that the location of the Aguas Turbias does not correspond to the coordinates in the treaty. He says that if the 1859 Treaty is Belize’s trump card in our case against Guatemala’s claim then the government and the Belize Referendum Commission need to rethink the country’s legal strategy.

Lindsay Belisle, Former Boundary Commissioner

“It is not at the point at it is described in the treaty and if Guatemalan wants to claim what is in the treaty then Guatemala could move it to two-hundred meters east and we cannot argue with that but that monument was set between Mexico and Guatemala. The British had nothing to do with the establishment with that monument. But as I said, treaty is an official document and you have to respect it. More than likely Guatemala will not bring that up as an issue because Guatemala and Mexico accept that point and respect that point. They are probably interested in bigger things. I was even believing the British that that treaty describes from the Rio Hondo to the Sarstoon. That is the reason I didn’t even try to investigate it but when I had time and started to research I said something is not adding up here. It comes out at you and you do further investigation because if we go to the ICJ we do not want to be surprised if these issue comes up and we start to scramble for answer because we are going for any and everything. So we have to prepare for any and everything.”

Belisle is welcoming anyone from the public, or Government who wants to challenge him on his positions.