GOB calls for official inquiry into border incident

The Government of Belize has requested a formal investigation into the latest incident along the Belize/Guatemala border. According to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lisa Shoman, following a report made by members of the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, Belmopan instructed Belize’s Ambassador to Guatemala, Fred Martinez, to approach officials in the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry and request that an inquiry be conducted into the matter. Shoman says G.O.B. is seeking to determine whether the incident was an isolated one. The call for an investigation follows a report made by SATIIM’s Executive Director Greg Ch’oc. According to Ch’oc, on Tuesday morning he and other members of the organisation were en route to Graham Creek Village via the Belize side of the Sarstoon River when they were stopped by a Guatemalan gunboat. Ch’oc describes the encounter as “hostile” and contends the military officers onboard demanded immigration documents and then told him that while the land to the north is Belizean, the river is Guatemalan. After some back and forth, the Belizeans were finally allowed to leave, but Ch’oc was very disturbed by the incident. In addition to a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has also written to Miguel Angel Trinidad, the Director of the Organization of American States border office, and Guatemala’s Ambassador to Belize, Manuel Tellez to complain about the incident. As a conservation group, SATIIM conducts frequent patrols in the Sarstoon River, but on Thursday Ch’oc told us that those exercises have been put on hold.

Greg Ch’oc, Executive Director, SATIIM
“At this point we are trying to limit our monitoring of the area and I have been in contact with the Foreign Minister, Honourable Lisa Shoman, to try to find out and investigate what caused the military personnel posted to that area to act in this manner and for us to feel confident again, and for me to feel confident that the rangers that are working in the area have some environment of security and safety, no?”