Guatemala talks continue in Washington

Day two of the latest round of talks between Guatemala and Belize continued today at OAS headquarters in Washington. News 5 spoke to negotiators this afternoon who declined to discuss details until the meeting adjourned later tonight. Earlier news reports quoted chief negotiator Ambassador Assad Shoman as having little hope that a settlement of the dispute could be achieved by the current mechanism’s August deadline. He suggested that the time could be extended or that perhaps the two facilitators–Sir Shridath Ramphal for Belize and Attorney Paul Reichler for Guatemala–could perhaps come up with some innovative suggestions for a way forward. Shoman also indicated that while Belize did not favour submitting the dispute to the International Court of Justice in the Hague–a position advanced by Guatemala–he could not rule it out as a possibility. Meanwhile, the closed door sessions going on tonight are believed to be dealing with the report of cartographer Paul Peeler, who last week conducted a survey of the border to determine its exact coordinates and then draw a map indicating whether the Guatemalan settlements of Machaquila, Rio Blanco and Valentin Camp were within the one kilometre adjacency zone on the Belize side of the border. The talks are scheduled to run through Wednesday.