Belizeans abroad support going to the I.C.J.
If you listen to the local airwaves, there is growing opposition to the compromis signed in Washington D.C. on Monday which sets out the parameters that could take the Guatemalan claim to Belize to the Hague. But before this happens, there has to be a public education campaign and a referendum. News Five’s William Neal was at the O.A.S. for the historic signing and found out that Belizeans in the Washington area have an early view. Foreign Minister, Wilfred Elrington, encouraged Belizeans to get involved in the process.
Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“The responsibility rests with all of us and I’d like to emphasise that as a minister of government, I have no greater responsibility than you all to protect Belize. Ambassador has no greater responsibility, none of us has no greater responsibility; the country belongs to all of us and all of us have equal responsibility to defend it. And we should each be prepared to do what the ordinary American citizen does; enlist in the military to go and fight or take the other steps that people normally do in trying to protect themselves. So tonight I am repeating the same theme that I started with when I first came here, the main priority is protection of Belize’s national integrity by ending the Guatemala/Belize dispute, and secondly, the taking of ownership of Belize by all of us. it is now your responsibility and I invite you to consider—it is now your responsibility to educate yourselves on this dispute. It’s not gonna go away. We seem to have an opportunity for us to go and vote as to whether or not we will take it to the court.”
William Neal
“As a Belizean abroad, why is this issue important for you?”
Gary Banner
“Well, it’s an issue that I grew up with obviously and I always remember as a kid always being told that Guatemala is coming over. From what the minister actually said, it seems like a very good idea for us to vote yes, you know at least get it resolved instead of just staying in limbo actually.”
William Neal
“What do you plan to tell your family back home?”
Gary Banner
“I definitely plan on telling them to vote yes. It’s about time we get this issue settled and from what I get from the minister, what I understand with the whole issue, it’s definitely within our favour to get it done.”
William Neal
“Why is this issue important for you?”
Gwen Daly
“I’m a Belizean. I don’t want to be a Guatemalan, I want to be a Belizean; I want to stay a Belizean.”
William Neal
“So what will you tell your family back home?”
Gwen Daly
“Gotta vote; gotta be registered and vote.”
Miles Rogers
“I think we got a rock solid case, I think we got a good chance so I definitely want encourage them to vote yes to the issue to take it to the court. And I think leave it to the judgment of the court and we’ll be surprised—not surprised, but satisfied with the judgment of that court. So I definitely will tell them to vote yes.”
Barbara Codrington Youfif
“It’s been an issue that’s been around since I was a child so I’ve always been interested in what Belize and Guatemala could—what kind of agreement they could come to so that hey could either share the border or at least share the way to the Caribbean Sea, which I think is what the Guatemalans are interested in.”
William Neal
“As a Belizean abroad, why is this issue important for you?”
Mark Young
“I think it’s important just to bring the question to an end simply because it’s the fastest way and the most succinct way, to do it through the courts. As minister Elrington said, we don’t have but nine hundred or so B.D.F. What are we gonna do, put three hundred or a hundred and twenty thousand youngsters with guns in their hands? That’s not what we’re about; we’re a nation of peace and on top of that I think the court has and we have a distinct argument in our borders. So based on that, knowing that the U.N. recognised Belize as a sovereign nation based on those old borders, we have a distinct case and we cannot lose on that fact, simply on that fact.”
William Neal
“As a Belizean abroad, why is this issue important for you?”
Emma Codrington Bhuruku
“Well, it’s important for me because it started when I was a child and I hope it gets resolved because for future generations we hope that we don’t have this kind of invasions and we don’t have people coming in and taking what’s not there’s. When I meet Guatemalans in this country, they tell me oh Belize belongs to us and I get very insulted by that. So I really would like it resolved. And in their school system, they’re teaching their children that Belize is their territory and I think that in Belize, the school system, we need to start teaching out young people that Belize does not belong to Guatemala and they need to stand up and shout and fight and vote and get their parents to vote.”
Errol Daly
“If the Belizean people don’t decide, then we have courts that decide for us what a country is and if that happens, we all better start to speak Spanish because this is dangerous; the same problem you see around the world. Israel, the Palestine, same problem; somebody’ gotta decide what belongs to Belize.”
William Neal
“What do you plan to tell your family back home?”
Errol Daly
“I’m gonna tell them to vote for this. We’ve gotta be sure that we get this done.”
