P.M. lashes Guatemala but still hopeful on talks
For his part, Prime Minister Said Musa dismissed Guatemalan propaganda, agreeing with Ch’oc that it would be ludicrous for Belize’s Maya to seek protection from a state with such a history of oppression. He then went on to say that despite the recent deterioration of relations, he still has reason to be optimistic going into Tuesday’s talks in Miami.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“We are hopeful that the facilitators will if you like speak very plainly and frankly to Guatemala. I have no doubt in my mind that the facilitators, being very intelligent people, fully realise that Belize has every right to remove these people who are way inside of Belize. In one case one point one kilometre inside of Belize, in the other one point eight kilometre inside of Belize. But we are dealing with a party that is dragging its feet, they sit down and sign to an agreement and then they go back and try and find reasons not to comply. Now how do you respond to that? All we can do is hope that since they agreed to the facilitation process, they must realise that if they cannot carry out the agreements they make, the confidence building measures they agreed to, then we are going to get nowhere and there is no point in continuing them. I hope we don’t reach that point, I always believe we should always press as long as possible to pursue the peaceful road, a peaceful dialogue. So I’m still hopeful that the Miami meeting will result in… for Guatemala to realise that this pretension that it makes, trying to create a new image for itself, to say “Oh, we made these agreements with Belize, but it’s Belize that is not living up to the agreement”, this is the propaganda coming out of Guatemala. I think the world clearly has to understand that they are the ones who are dragging their feet, they are the ones who are being intransigent and once they realise that their propaganda is not getting through and nobody believes them, hopefully they will then decide to carry out the agreement and we can move forward.”
Musa told journalists that Belize’s friends in the international community are being kept fully informed and have expressed their support. He revealed that a diplomatic note from the U.S. government has praised Belize for acting with restraint in the current situation. Belize has refrained from forcibly evicting several hundred illegal Guatemalan settlers until after the panel of facilitators has investigated the matter. Following the press conference, the Maya leaders signed a declaration reaffirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belize and their full participation in the democratic life of the country.
