So what’s next for the Northern Territorial Volunteers? Another expedition, of course! But it likely will not be back to the Sarstoon or to the Gracias a Dios border marker at Belize’s southernmost tip – not because they’re afraid, but because the expeditions are expensive and resources are scarce. Giovanni de la Fuente, Head, […]
The first release from the National Security Council, issued just before the expedition on Sunday, broke the news of “countless encounters” between the B.D.F. and Guatemalan military. The release speaks also of attempted interceptions, and the clear indication is that this has been happening since the B.D.F. started travelling up the Sarstoon to change troops […]
Brigadier General Jones has gone on record to say that the mutual relationship between the Guatemalan and Belizean armed forces is now vulnerable, thanks to the unsolicited trek to Sarstoon Island. On the other hand, BTV’s founding member Wil Maheia is asking a rather pointed question, how have Belizean men, women and children bearing the […]
At a press conference held this morning, Vision Inspired by the People presented its position on what transpired in the Sarstoon over the weekend. According to Paco Smith, the confrontation between the territorial volunteers and Guatemalan armed forces is the result of a systematic failure on the part of the Government of Belize. He says […]
The incident between a Belize Territorial Volunteer-led expedition and Guatemalan military on Sunday has created a storm of anti-Guatemala and certainly anti-government sentiment. G.O.B. has remained tight-lipped on the attempted interception of Belizean vessels in the waters at the mouth of the Sarstoon, until today. This afternoon the Prime Minister hosted a press conference in […]
The government has also come under fire because the expedition which included approximately one hundred and fifty Belizean men, women and children was not afforded the protection of a Belizean military presence. According to the PM, two questions have been at the forefront – whether the military should have been present…and since there is talk […]
PM Barrow says that they don’t just talk the talk about maintaining sovereignty, but actually claim it. Every Tuesday, the B.D.F. travels down the Sarstoon to change shifts at the Cadenas Observation Post, and do not ask permission from the Guatemalans stationed at the mouth of the Sarstoon to do so. According to the PM, […]
The Forty-Sixth Annual General Meeting of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union is currently taking place in Grenada. One of the highlights of the week-long event is the Caribbean Broadcasting Awards which are presented to journalists from across the region whose work captured the attention of a panel of eminent judges from the Caribbean. At the event […]
The Prime Minister claims that following Sunday’s incident with the Guatemalan Navy, there is no doubt that tensions and thus the risk and danger has increased, not only to the BTV contemplating a return trip, but also to B.D.F. soldiers who must traverse the Sarstoon every week. Commander of the B.D.F. Brigadier-General David Jones echoed […]
Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington was at the press conference today and indeed, the entire issue of the Sarstoon expedition and Guatemalan falls squarely in his portfolio. But apart from being just a face at the head table, Elrington did not contribute to the briefing. Perhaps the PM believed that Elrington said more than […]
And just in case that was a little ambiguous, it was made clearer by the Prime Minister. He didn’t exactly go so far as to say that Elrington has been messing up, but he did say that when he has the need to step into any minister’s portfolio, then his line is the only line […]
Following an incident in the Sarstoon between the Guatemalan military and a group led by the Belize Territorial Volunteers on Sunday, the People’s United Party has condemned the actions of Guatemala. Claiming that five vessels carrying Belizeans were trespassing in Guatemalan waters, senior Guatemalan naval officers attempted to forcefully stop those vessels. The government has […]
The People’s United Party did not form a part of the expedition, but former P.U.P. Foreign Minister and current Senator Lisa Shoman was present and accounted for…as was P.U.P. Deputy Leader Carolyn Trench-Sandiford, who is a member of the Belize Territorial Volunteers. Both took the opportunity to recount their experiences of Sunday’s Sarstoon incident, and […]
Immediately after BTV’s trek to the Sarstoon, the government of Belize, through the National Security Council, announced that they had been on top of things, monitoring the entire expedition – start to finish – with multiple agencies. But when met with multiple claims that Guatemala aggressed Belizeans in Belizean waters, Foreign Minister Elrington has been […]
The release from the National Security Council has been met with disbelief and outrage in certain quarters, largely because it does not even acknowledge that there was any incident at all. In fact, the NSC expresses its, “profound pleasure” that there was no incident. The BTV isn’t impressed by the release, and according to de […]
Fonseca says that while all eyes are on Guatemala and the threat to the Sarstoon, there is another critical issue on the front-burner which has potentially devastating consequences on Belize’s economy – the crisis in our banking system. In recent months, Belize Bank, Belize Bank International and Atlantic Bank International have lost correspondent bank relationships […]
A group of P.U.P. standard, informally dubbed the G-eleven, continues to boycott party functions. On Sunday, when a consultation was held in Big Falls, they were not there. The eleven, which includes powerhouse politicians John Briceno, Cordel Hyde and Dan Silva, is agitating for change within the P.U.P. and by change they mean a restructuring […]
A Belize City man is clinging to life at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital after being hit by a vehicle and left for dead on the George Price Highway over the weekend. The incident which occurred on Saturday is yet to make the daily police situation report and tonight the family of Hilton Conorquie is […]
On Sunday, Guatemalan military personnel attempted to turn back five Belizean vessels carrying members of an expedition led by the Belize Territorial Volunteers. The incident occurred in the early afternoon near the mouth of the Sarstoon River, an area known to be well within Belizean territory. Following a brief ceremony held on a sandbar in […]
The incident with the Guatemalan military occurred in the early afternoon…actually close to the end of the expedition to the Sarstoon. The morning was spent further north, where about one hundred and twenty-five men, women and children stood in knee-deep water off the coast to send a message to the governments of Guatemala and Belize. […]
The National Security Council release issued Sunday evening states that the O.A.S. confirmed that the vessels which transited Sarstoon Island did so from the north and the south. The NSC credits what it proudly boasts as its diplomatic safety net for protecting Belizeans from any major fallout from that, “no doubt inadvertent occurrence.” That bit […]
The National Security Council reiterates that, “assertion and maintenance of sovereignty over the Sarstoon Island and our half of the river is best left to the Belizean military and Belizean diplomats.” We wonder what the military and those diplomats are making of the Guatemalan version of the events on Sunday. As we showed you, there […]
Just before three o’clock on Saturday morning, there was an all-out brawl near the entrance to the MCC Grounds across from the Ramada Belize City Princess. Four residents from the Lake Independence area: Mark Benguche, Austin Rowland, Eugene Arana and Joel Bishop were viciously attacked by a group of men, reportedly from the Supal Street […]
Exactly twenty-four hours later, on Sunday morning, shots rang out at the corner of Mapp and Cran streets in the city. A seventeen-year-old was targeted by gunmen in a vehicle; he was hit to the left leg and taken to the K.H.M.H. for medical assistance. Regional Commander of the Eastern Division North, Assistant Commissioner Dezerie […]
A scary home invasion took place on Sunday night around ten on the Boom Road near its junction with the George Price Highway. A family was inside their home when three men fully clothed and masked presented themselves as law enforcement officers and proceeded to rob the family when they let them inside their home. […]
