Guatemalan shot inside Chiquibul
We will have a report on the opening of the O.A.S. General Assembly taking place at this time in Antigua, Guatemala. The Belize delegation is led by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred Elrington. Apart from the side meetings which Belize is holding on the referendum and the plenary that gets underway on Wednesday, Elrington will have to deal with a pressing issue. Friend of Conservation and Development confirmed today that an investigation is ongoing on the shooting of a Guatemalan national on Monday. While it was not fatal, the Guatemalans are likely to raise the matter with the Belize Foreign Minister. The shooting occurred when the Guatemalan national was caught approximately two miles inside Belizean territory by a B.D.F. patrol near the Caballo area in the Chiquibul. The victim was taken to the Western Regional Hospital for injuries to the abdomen. He is believed to have been conducting illegal activities well within Belizean territory.
Guatemala’s hostility towards Belize will only continue to grow. Our government lacks the power and wherewithal to negotiate for a peace settlement with Guatemala. I am unashamed to say that we need the protection of the British government to safeguard our territorial integrity. I propose that we petition to become not a colony, but a “free associated state” with the United Kingdom. We will retain our independence to govern our internal affairs, but the United Kingdom will be responsible for our defense and foreign affairs. Let me emphasize this point very clearly: we are not giving up our independence as a “free associated state.”
We must admit that we cannot sort this problem on our own. Guatemala has been insincere in its efforts to resolve the question of our territorial integrity; this issue will continue down many generations, and it will be a legacy of our colonial history. Let the British resolve this issue; they were the ones who started it.
Should have shot and killed the PIG! Man these Guats are the most Disrespectful people ever
please take him to KHMH- pretty please..
It’s an intriguing idea, Greg. But we also need British courts, and British police, and almost every part of government that we have screwed up since independence!
I actually think we would do better to have the ability to call on British judges, prosecutors, and detectives to insulate us from the home-grown corruption that percolates to the highest levels of our own government.
Mind you, I love independence in principle, but we have done a horrible job of implementing it, until we have created a system of corrupt aristocracy and the rest of us are serfs who can never get justice based on merit. I like to study history, and the USA had similar problems, BUT THEY REALIZED IT AND CHANGED THEIR GOVERNMENT AFTER 13 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE. We are overdue to correct our course!
Dear Storm,
You made a very interesting point. It is very important to understand history. Nation-building is extremely complicated, and it requires bold, charismatic leaders of the highest probity. Sadly, Belize does not have such leaders.
Dear Storm,
We have been taught from primary school that Belize “fought” for its independence. The fact is Belize never “fought” for its independence. The United Nations Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, of whom the United Kingdom is a signatory, was established in 1960.
Therefore, if the people of Belize (British Honduras) expressed their desire to achieve full independence (remember, Belize was already independent in the 1970s to the extent that Premier George Price and the PUP had exercised extensive automony over the internal affairs of Belize while the British colonial government, as headed by a governor who, in reality, played only a symbolic role as representative of Her Majesty the Queen, assumed responsibility for Belize’s defence and foreign affairs.
Being a “free associated state” with the United Kingdom (the concept of “free associated state” is not a novel idea. The Cook Islands is an associated state of New Zealand; the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia are associated states of the United States. All these countries are under the amical protection of more powerful nation-states while maintaining their own domestic sovereignty.
As a free associated state, Belize could benefit from a strong partnership with the United Kingdom. Ask yourself this simple question: If Belize becomes a free associated state with the British, or, for lack of a better term, a “British Overseas Territory” (similar to the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and British Virgin Islands, which, by the way, are doing quite well under British protection), do you think Guatemala would be so bold as to make incursions into Belize? If Guatemala were to do this, such an action would be a violation of British sovereignty, and, by extension, invading the Queen’s realm.
Long Live Belize!