Belize-Guatemala border revisited
Much of the agreement signed in Miami deals with the deliberation of the adjacency line–diplospeak for border–between Belize and Guatemala. In October of 1999 News 5’s Janelle Chanona took a visit to one of the three primary border monuments, the one near Benque Viejo del Carmen, and discovered that life on the ground is not always as clear cut as the printing on the map.
Janelle Chanona
“By just looking at me right now, you wouldn’t be able to tell that I’m actually standing on the border between Belize and Guatemala. There are actually two terminal points marking this border, one here at Garbutt Falls in the Cayo District and another at Gracias a Dios, Toledo.”
Belizean security forces encounter hundreds of illegal immigrants along the border everyday. Alan Usher, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, says most of time, the people are peasants and the standard procedure is to point them back to where he or she came from. But what happens when someone crosses the Belize-Guatemala border illegally, right before your eyes, like it’s no big deal?
(Man enters on footpath from Guatemala)
Janelle Chanona
“Hello. You speak English?”
Man
“Yeah man.”
Janelle Chanona
“You would talk to me? I am from Belize media.”
Man
“You are from Belize? I’m going to Belize right now.”
Janelle Chanona
“Are you Guatemalan? You’d talk to me a second?”
Man
“No me from Cayo, San Ignacio, but I just walk right here to check my family.”
Janelle Chanona
“You have family over there?”
Man
“Yeah.”
Janelle Chanona
“You do this all the time?”
Man
“Not really but right now just because tonight I come and I spend all my money, I drink and I spend all my money, right.”
Janelle Chanona
“And your passports?”
Man
“I got it right here but I no want pass right there, check. I pass right here because right here, they don’t do nothing, check.”
Janelle Chanona
“So what they do over there you don’t like?”
Man
“Nothing, but I pass here because here we no have problem, check.”
Janelle Chanona
“So what kind of problem they give you over there?”
Man
“No, no problem, just because I take it more easy right here, just to pass.”
Janelle Chanona
“So it’s just right through instead of customs?”
Man
“Yeah, if I want I could go to Benque. I go to Guatemala. Right now I’m going home cause last night I was drunk and my money done spend and I have to reach home right now.”
Janelle Chanona
“So you are trying to avoid the fines that you have to pay over there?”
Man
“I have to pay to come into Guatemala, but to come out of Guatemala, I no have to pay nothing.”
Janelle Chanona
“So you think this alright then?”
Man
“Yeah man, for me everything alright, because I no have no trouble with nobody. I could pass, I could turn again and no problem, right… check.”
The well-worn footpaths in the area show that this man is the not only one to feel that way. Usher says defending the border is bigger than trying to make sure everyone keeps to their side of the line. Most immigrants are found in protected areas, trying to make a living at farming. Usher says studies show these areas are made up of a thin layer of soil over many layers of hard rock. As the practice of illegal farming continues in these preserved forests, more and more the land is being cleared. Usher says, if the trees of the rainforest were ever cut down to a great extent, the repercussions for Belize would be enormous.
Alan Usher, P.S. Min. of National Security
“There would be more flooding, less control, severe water management problems, as well as in the long run within a decade and a half, we would actually lose major portions of our living reef. So the importance of maintaining patrols along this border is tantamount to the existence, Belize’s existence in the shape and form that we know it today.”
The Belize Defense Force is aware of these issues and conducts frequent border and air patrols to ensure all illegal activity, including illegal entry and agrarian encroachment is kept to a minimum.
Alan Usher
“The B.D.F. has been sensitized, has always been sensitized to the territorial issue. As far as we are concerned, there is a definite boundary, there is a border. There’s an international border recognized not only by Belize, but the rest of the world and we have to protect the protected areas of Belize.”
Janelle Chanona
“Presently Belize does not use walls or fences to have its borders recognized, it’s hoping its friendly relationships with its neighbors will serve that purpose. Janelle Chanona for News Five.”
The other two primary markers are at Gracias a Dios in the south and Aguas Turbias in the north.
