News reports say that Guatemala will be reintroducing Belize as part of its official map. This is to take place due to an awareness campaign that is being undertaken in schools across the border in anticipation of their March eighteenth referendum on taking the territorial dispute to the International Court of Justice. The reports say […]
Belize’s LGBT community is seeking to get to the bottom of a reported act of discrimination against guests it is welcoming for an event next week. The Executive Director of the United Belize Advocacy Movement, Caleb Orozco, wrote to C.E.O. in the Ministry of Immigration, Edmund Zuniga, alleging that several visitors from Haiti were denied […]
On November first, at the United Nations General Assembly, the Cuban Government will yet again table a resolution entitled, “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.” The embargo by the U.S. goes back almost sixty years; Cuba says the embargo is causing the obstruction […]
Belize today played host to the fourth gathering of the heads of government of the Caribbean and Mexico. Mexico is one of the most populous nations surpassing by far the combined population of the Caribbean islands, but there is plenty that the two sub-regions share. Most recently, natural disasters impacted the two so that the […]
The CARICOM/Mexico Summit concluded just after five o’clock this evening at the Best Western Hotel and it was immediately followed by a press conference led by Doctor Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada, who is the current chair of CARICOM. Doctor Mitchell summarized the top-level diplomatic conference by stating that Mexico has pledged to strengthen […]
Among the other areas of focus is an aim to bolster trade and investment between CARICOM and Mexico, through investment promotion agencies. Likewise, the announcement of a high-level private/public sector meeting among CARICOM member states was made. That gathering will be held in Grenada in December and will feature billionaire investor Richard Branson of Virgin […]
President Enrique Peña Nieto aside from reaffirming Mexico’s commitment to assisting the hurricane-affected island nations of the Caribbean also spoke about the need for improving bilateral cooperation in other areas of common interest. Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico [Translated] “Mexico has participated since 1974 as an observer to CARICOM; this organization that unites […]
In mid-September of this year, the island country of Barbuda was deemed uninhabitable after category-five hurricane Irma flattened the island. Thousands were displaced and transferred to the twin island of Antigua. One week later, another category-five hurricane, Maria, swept through the Caribbean, devastating Dominica in its path; they too sought refuge on Antiguan soil. Today, […]
But even as Barbuda is in the early stages of rebuilding, the next hurricane season starts in seven months. According to Minister Greene, the greatest challenge facing the island is that even as the recovery process takes place, there is no access to concessionary funding because they are told that the gross domestic product in […]
The loss of correspondent banking, also known as derisking, was a sticking point for Antiguan Minister of Trade, E.P. Chet Greene. His government has taken the lead for the Caribbean in exposing the effects of delinking countries from the international money chain. CARICOM member states, including Belize, have been adversely affected after U.S. financial institutions […]
Even before the arrival of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, the official delegations including heads of states from CARICOM and the respective foreign ministers, met at the Best Western Belize Biltmore Plaza in two sessions this morning, ahead of the CARICOM-Mexico Summit. But in the case of Antigua and Barbuda, Prime Minister Gaston Browne was […]
On Monday, we reported that the Guatemalan government has decided that the referendum on taking the territorial claim to Belize will be held on March eighteenth 2018. That country is expected to spend some forty million U.S. dollars to carry out the poll to decide the question: “Do you agree that any legal claim by […]
This evening, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is hosting representatives of several Caribbean countries at a forum at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts here in Belize City. The forum is intended to discuss confronting challenges with respect to boundary disputes in the Caribbean. In addition to Belize’s ongoing dispute with Guatemala, Guyana has […]
At around six o’clock this evening, a number of CARICOM Heads of Government, Foreign Ministers and delegations landed at the Phillip Goldson International Airport in a private flight made possible by the Mexican government. They were greeted by B.D.F. soldiers bearing the flags of the different nations in a small ceremony at the airport, from […]
It was made official today: the Guatemalan Congress has approved Sunday, March eighteenth, 2018, as the official date when their referendum on the Belize/Guatemala territorial dispute will be held. President Jimmy Morales, whose administration has taken a tougher stance on the Belize question, and the judges of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal made the announcement earlier […]
Guatemalan vessel ‘AMADOR’ ran aground Belize’s Reef on Saturday night. There were ten occupants on board including Carlos Pena – a well-known Guatemalan artist – who put out an SOS message on Facebook asking for coastguard or police to rescue them. The sixty-foot pleasure yacht captained by Gustavo Aleojos Andres Jansa was in the southern […]
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto will be in Belize for the first time next week. Traditionally, Mexican presidents visit before their inauguration as part of a tour of bordering countries and their state visits to Belize are almost guaranteed. The last Mexican president to visit was Felipe Calderon; that was back in 2007. Now, Peña […]
The Eastern Caribbean island nation of Dominica continues to recover from the ravages of Category Five Hurricane Maria which struck a week ago tonight. Its prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, has become the face of his nation’s suffering, openly crying on television as he told of his witness of the devastation his island had suffered. Taking […]
This afternoon, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington addressed the United Nations. Last year, he earned rave reviews for a speech he gave in New York at the General Assembly debate, in which he sharply took on Guatemala. At the time, he was critical of their rejection of an independent report clearing soldiers of the […]
The issues of sovereignty and territorial integrity are ever present in the minds of Belizeans at this time. This morning, the Foreign Minister of Belize, Wilfred Elrington, met with visiting diplomats from countries friendly to Belize, before departing to address the United Nations in New York. We caught up with him before he dashed away […]
There is still no protocol on the Sarstoon, even though the Foreign Minister was told by his then counterpart, Carlos Raul Morales that one would be concluded. But Elrington believes that going to the ICJ would stop the Guatemalan military and repeats that the maritime borders are not yet defined. Elrington further states that the […]
The Foreign Minister has been a lightning rod for years. Many have called for his removal for statements he has made such as “artificial borders” and most recently, his persistence that our borders are not internationally recognized. But Elrington has remained as the chief negotiator in the most important issue for Belizeans: territorial integrity. Under […]
The Opposition withdrew from talks with Guatemala because it was not kept wholly in the loop and has said that it had no confidence in the conduct of the FM as it relates to the claim. Here is how Elrington puts it. Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs “The only negative we had […]
Minister of Home and Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington was the featured speaker at the University of Belize’s lecture on Monday on security and threats to Belize on the eve of Independence. As usual, Elrington brought a unique perspective to his audience. In opening his remarks, the man in charge of the Police Department says he […]
But what really are Belize’s most important threats – as the Minister defined them, things that can cause injury, pain and harm, either from internal or external sources? Apart from those others he mentioned and some that do not directly affect Belize, the most obvious one is the Guatemalan claim, on which Elrington touched in […]
