Cordel Hyde: FM Elrington Signed Compromis without Permission

Deputy Party Leader Anthony Mahler and parliamentarians Michael Espat, Oscar Requeña, Rodwell Ferguson, Julius Espat and Cordel Hyde are bringing the claim against the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General of Belize and the Chief Elections Officer. Hyde took aim at Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington, who signed the Special Agreement in December 2008 at the O.A.S. Headquarters in Washington.  Guatemala was represented by then Foreign Minister Roger Haroldo Rodas Melgar and the O.A.S. by General Secretary Miguel Insulza. Hyde says that Elrington did not get the nod from Belizeans to sign.

Cordel Hyde

Cordel Hyde, Deputy Party Leader, P.U.P.

“If we go to the CJ under this special agreement, our borders—what we know as Belize can be altered. Now we know that has been etched in stone in the constitution of this country since 1981. If we go to the I.C.J. under this special agreement, the people who live down south may not be Belizeans when all is said and done or at least where they live may not be part of Belize anymore. If we go to the I.C.J. under this special agreement, the I.C.J. is empowered to say listen the territory as you know it is no more. In other words, they can take away territory from us. And we are not talking about any territory; we are talking about the richest part of this country, the most beautiful, the most pristine, the most blessed part of this country. We are talking about where there is oil, where there is minerals, where there is gold, where there’s bountiful fishing. It’s a very serious matter and we are saying that Mister Elrington, the foreign minister, had no authority to go and sign that special agreement without getting permission from the people of Belize.”