SATIIM says Guat. gun boat threatened its members

Tonight there are disturbing reports coming from the Belize/Guatemala border in the Toledo District. According to Executive Director of the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management, Greg Ch’oc, around nine-thirty on Tuesday morning, he and other members of the organisation were heading to Graham Creek Village via the Sarstoon River when they were stopped by members of the Guatemalan Navy. Ch’oc says the encounter was hostile as the officers demanded immigration documents and told them that while the mainland is Belizean, the river is Guatemalan. After a half an hour of conversation, Ch’oc says they were finally allowed to leave.

Greg Ch’oc, Executive Director, SATIIM
“It’s difficult to really give one’s feeling to the encounter. I think that initially it was frightening; you’re in the middle of the Sarstoon River and you have a Guatemalan gun boat with Guatemalan military personnel, fully armed, intercepting you in a very hostile way, I don’t know. It was very disturbing and frightening, intimidating to say the least, but I think that we were able to maintain our calm and to try to get as much information as we can by videotaping and taking images of what was transpiring.”

This afternoon Ch’oc met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lisa Shoman who has promised to use diplomatic channels to find out the cause of the incident and ensure it is not repeated. Ch’oc has also informed Guatemala’s ambassador to Belize Manuel Tellez and Miguel Angel Trinidad, Director of the border office of the Organization of American States, of the encounter.