The second leg of a tour on the International Court of Justice organized by the United States Embassy for the local media puts them in Guatemala City tonight. Aside from interviewing former Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales, the media also got an interview with the Public Relations Officer of the Tribunal Supremo Electoral, which is […]
A few weeks ago a delegation of Belizean media travelled to the Netherlands on a U.S. Embassy sponsored trip to learn more about the International Court of Justice. The second part of the programme began today as the delegation travelled to Guatemala City to get an update on the pulse of the Guatemalans on the […]
Earlier we heard from Carlos Raul Morales, who left diplomatic service over a year ago and was replaced by Foreign Minister Sandra Polanco. But we asked him to weigh in on why Guatemala has not fulfilled its commitment to the Sarstoon Protocol. Morales and Elrington had agreed to establish a protocol for the Sarstoon in […]
In his interview today, Morales, as the same with others we interviewed reiterated their hope that Belizeans will vote yes in the upcoming referendum to take the claim to the I.C.J. Here at home, one of the main arguments by the proponents of the “No Campaign” is that negotiations can continue instead of going the […]
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales arrived in the country on Thursday evening via the P.G.I.A., in a private jet and departed today. He was here on an official visit for the fifty-second SICA Summit which we will tell you about later in this newscast. But first, we go to the very short interview President Morales afforded […]
Following President Jimmy Morales’ departure from the summit, we got a chance to speak with Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who symbolically handed over the Tempore Presidency of SICA to President Morales. With regional matters concluded, Barrow and Morales held bi-lateral talks. One of the topics they discussed is the Belize/Guatemala dispute, specifically the rising tensions […]
On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington suggested that if Belizeans vote “NO” in the April tenth, 2019 referendum, it could lead to an invasion by Guatemala. It’s the second time he has made such an assertion. News Five asked PM Barrow about Elrington’s comments. He did not agree with the sentiments of his foreign […]
As we said earlier, Prime Minister Dean Barrow and President Jimmy Morales held bilateral discussions ahead of the SICA summit today. Leaders of both countries spoke on the upcoming I.C.J. referendum scheduled for April tenth 2019. Guatemala held its referendum in April last year. The vote there was a “YES” and the turnout was twenty-six […]
Belize handed over the Presidency Pro-tempore of the Central American Integrated System, SICA, today to Guatemala, ending a six-month rotation of the presidency. The fifty-second meeting of the Heads of State of SICA took place at the Biltmore Plaza in Belize City. At least four presidents traveled to Belize for the event. For six months, […]
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales is in Belize. President Morales touched down at the P.G.I.A. at twenty minutes passed three o’clock this afternoon and is here for the 2018 SICA Summit which Belize is hosting. This is the second time, as far as we know, that Morales has been on Belizean soil since he was elected […]
There have been ongoing lectures in different parts of the country and from what has been detected, there seems to be an anti-I.C.J. sentiment. Minister Wilfred Elrington is known to be very candid and has received a lot of heat for his comments relating to the Belize/Guatemala dispute. For instance, in September Elrington stated that […]
Two point five million dollars have been budgeted by the government for the I.C.J. Referendum campaign. An education campaign, apart from but similar to the government-sponsored I.C.J. campaign, concluded on Tuesday night in Belize City. The I.C.J. Lecture Series, funded by the University of Belize and the Social Sector Senators, ended in a heated debate […]
There is another protocol to report about tonight. It is the Sarstoon Protocol, which is still up in the air. In June 2016, the foreign ministers of both Belize and Guatemala met at the O.A.S. headquarters in Washington to with O.A.S. Secretary General Luis Almagro to begin to negotiate the terms of a cooperation mechanism […]
The leaders of all seven Central American countries are in Belize for the 2018 SICA Summit. For the past six months, Belize was at the helm of the Central American Integrated System, SICA, after it assumed the Presidency Pro Tempore from the Dominican Republic on June thirtieth. On Friday, Guatemala will take over the Pro […]
Today, agriculture officials and ministers from SICA’s Council of Central America converged at the Biltmore Plaza in Belize City. Since Belize holds the pro-tem presidency, Minister of Agriculture, Senator Godwin Hulse chaired the meeting. The focus was to discuss regional collaboration in the field of agriculture to strengthen the management of livestock and plant health. […]
Coffee and citrus were also discussed at the meeting, specifically as it relates to the med-fly. But agricultural ministers are also looking at the plan of action in reference to having a standardized regional agricultural policy. This looks at the export opportunities for Belize to the Central American region. As it currently stands, Belize has […]
The U.S. government has determined it will be withholding aid to Belize for various programmes. Earlier today, the State Department announced that President Donald Trump had signed off a decree to stop assistance to a number of countries. In the case of Belize, the U.S. will not provide non-humanitarian and non trade-related assistance for the […]
Today in The Hague, the Belize media had the opportunity to sit down with two law experts in International dispute resolution from Leiden University in the Netherlands to weigh in on the Belize Guatemala dispute. They provided a wealth of information based on their experience in the principles of international law and how it is […]
The media took the opportunity to discuss the ongoing challenges with the Guatemalan Armed Forces in the Sarstoon with the legal experts from Leiden University. Ambassador Dylan Vernon explained on Wednesday that it is a continued part of international lobbying efforts to make it known that Guatemala has not honoured its commitment to establish a […]
Another hot-button issue that the media has been pressing for answers while at The Hague is the specific wording of the Special Agreement between Belize and Guatemala. The court would be asked to settle based on International law – “any and all legal claims of Guatemala against Belize.” Some fear the wording is too open-ended […]
The fourth meeting of the Guatemala-Belize Joint Commission was held on Wednesday at the Office of the Organization of American States in the Adjacency Zone. The meeting was to discuss the implementation of the agreement for the Protection of the Environment and Sustainable Use of Resources that Belize and Guatemala signed in December 2014. A government […]
As it stands, the Department of Transport and the nine cities and towns across the country all work independently of each other. They also operate on separate electronic databases and manual systems which end up in poorly organized and inaccessible record management and data sharing. The Belize Motor Vehicle Registration and License System is a […]
A pool of Belizean journalists is in The Hague, Netherlands for one week. The group representing seven media houses and the Government Press Office includes our Marleni Cuellar. They arrived in that city on Sunday with the sole purpose to learn more about the International Court of Justice. The journalists have engaged in a number […]
In addressing the idea of legalizing marijuana, Prime Minister Dean Barrow touched on the U.S. factor. According to PM Barrow, if marijuana was grown legally in the country, the cartels would openly take over production in Belize. The fear is that the U.S. will bring down the hammer on the country and to quote the […]
We also asked Musa about the upcoming April tenth I.C.J. Referendum. Opposition Leader John Briceño has called on the Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, to postpone the referendum for several reasons, including the education campaign or lack thereof. Briceño suggested a date after the 2020 general elections and PM Barrow, however, shut down the suggestion, stating […]
