Home » Featured Foreign Affairs Miscellaneous People & Places
You are currently browsing entries filed in: Featured Foreign Affairs Miscellaneous People & Places
This afternoon, Ministry of Foreign Affairs C.E.O. Lawrence Sylvestre, with military leaders General David Jones and Admiral John Borland attempted to dissuade representatives of the Belize Territorial Volunteers from going to the Sarstoon on Saturday. The meeting took place in Punta Gorda, hometown of the BTV, and first indications are that the G.O.B. and military […]
Today at the meeting the BTV was joined by representatives of the Northern Territorial Volunteers, headquartered in Orange Walk. The mandate of the NTV is to increase awareness of our border points, from north to south, and the group has taken over fifteen hundred Belizeans on various expeditions to those areas. ON Saturday the NTV […]
De la Fuente says that where the trip to the Sarstoon is concerned, any aggression from the Guatemalans will be a result of the weakness of government’s position now and in the past. As to the suggestion from official quarters that the BTV is provoking Guatemalans, he says that’s just ridiculous, an assertion with no […]
Today at the meeting the BTV was joined by representatives of the Northern Territorial Volunteers, headquartered in Orange Walk. The mandate of the NTV is to increase awareness of our border points, from north to south, and the group has taken over fifteen hundred Belizeans on various expeditions to those areas. ON Saturday the NTV […]
We also asked De la Fuente to weigh in on Guatemala’s obvious intent to wage a PR war against Belize. The incident in which Guatemalan minor Julio Alvarado Ruano was killed has received what seems to unprecedented attention from the highest levels of Guatemalan government and military. Guatemala has continued to pursue the vilification of […]
The abrupt decision by Guatemala to exercise sovereignty over the Sarstoon River is an infraction which contravenes the rights of the indigenous communities of southern Belize. Barranco, the southernmost village in the country, is a coastal Garifuna community that relies on the nearby sea space, as well as adjacent waterway. So are several Maya communities […]
Following the shooting death of thirteen-year-old Julio Alvarado Ruano last Wednesday, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced that the western and southern borders with Belize would be militarized. As tensions built up over the sudden movement of troops to communities near the Adjacency Zone and the Sarstoon River, someone from the Guatemalan press forwarded an electronic […]
Baroness Patricia Janet Scotland is the Secretary General of the Commonwealth. She arrived today in Belize on a first visit since her assumption of the post. It is also her first stop in an official tour of the Caribbean countries who are members of the Commonwealth. Scotland’s schedule includes a call on the Prime Minister […]
The Council of Ministers of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group known as the ACP was convened on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week in Dakar, Senegal. Ambassador Dylan Vernon briefed the Council of Ministers of the grouping about the developments in respect of tensions in the Sarstoon as well as the Adjacency Zone where […]
Wil Maheia and the Belize Territorial Volunteers are unyielding in their goal to return to the Sarstoon on Saturday where they plan to commemorate the hundred and fifty-seventh anniversary of the signing of the 1859 Treaty between Britain and Guatemala. The group’s persistence flies in the face of the Prime Minister’s warning on Monday, dissuading […]
Tonight, however, the BTV remains undeterred to travel to the Sarstoon over which the Guatemalans are exerting sovereignty and have deployed additional troops in the area. The B.D.F. believes the expedition is risky business for the BTV. Guatemala claims it’s an act of provocation and will not allow the BTV in the area. The Foreign […]
The strategy of the government of Guatemala following the shooting of thirteen-year-old Julio Alvarado Ruano is two-fold. It wants an investigation and for those responsible to be taken to trial. Guatemala also wants the moral condemnation of Belize. In the extended television program, Foreign Minister Morales discloses the steps Guatemala is taking, including presenting a […]
On Monday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow assured the nation that the crisis with Guatemala had been averted and that both he and President Jimmy Morales had agreed to de-escalate tensions following the deployment of troops to the Sarstoon and the Adjacency Zone. In the interview to Canal Antigua, Morales claims that Guatemala did not deploy […]
But back to Brigadier General David Jones…he said today that the investigation into the shooting of Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey remains ongoing, but unofficially, he’s been told that Lambey would have been ambushed by the Guatemalans. As to the shooting last Wednesday in the Chiquibul Forest which left thirteen-year-old Julio Alvarado Ruano dead, Guatemala was […]
The rules of engagement for B.D.F. soldiers on patrol near the western and southern borders with Guatemala are a clear set of directives that each officer must follow. They provide authorization and restrictions on, among other things, the use of force, as well as the employment of certain specific capabilities. In light of the recent […]
As we have reported, the Organization of American States has been the only organization to “repudiate” the death of the Guatemalan minor at the hands of the B.D.F. even before an investigation was completed. But things are moving ahead and the O.A.S. confirmed today that at the request of both countries, it will be conducting […]
In Guatemala City, La Nacion Newspaper is reporting a protest in front of the Belize Embassy by about two dozen protestors bearing placards with the names of ten Guatemalans that they claim have been killed in Belize since 1999. President Jimmy Morales told reporters today that he hopes that those responsible for the death of […]
The death of thirteen year old Julio Alvarado Ruano was ventilated today in the Guatemalan Congress where the rhetoric went up notches. Congressman Oliviera Garcia claimed that Guatemalans have been robbed and assaulted by powers with whom Guatemala signed agreements that were never respected. He said they cannot speak about a border with Belize because […]
Following the incident in the Chiquibul, where a minor was shot and killed when the B.D.F. came under fire, Guatemala’s version of events went immediately viral, led by an inflammatory video message by President Jimmy Morales. The perception has been that Belize’s response, on the other hand, has been subdued and inadequate, giving our western […]
Barrow says that in running away with Guatemala’s version of events, the international media seems to have missed a critical aspect of the incident – that the B.D.F. soldiers were fired on first by Guatemalans in the dead of night and were only returning fire. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “I don’t hear anybody, I […]
The Prime Minister explained that he understands that when the country is under threat people want immediate action, but the events of this past few days have underscored the importance of continued talks, and continued lines of communication…with the US Southern Command, for example. SouthCom and the US, says the PM, have continued to play […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow returned to Belize from New York on Sunday after holding discussions with the United Nations, the Organization of American States and others on the aggressive stand by Guatemala, following the killing of a minor inside the Chiquibul. Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales and other high-ranking officials ramped up the rhetoric and mobilized […]
The de-escalation of the tension, according to the PM, came despite the positions taking by both leaders – Morales seeking justice for the death of thirteen year old Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano, and Barrow maintaining that the shooting was justified…self-defense after a B.D.F. patrol came under fire. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “President Morales committed […]
While reports from Guatemala have spread like wildfire, along with condemnation of the B.D.F. at the highest levels of government, the incident is still under investigation by the O.A.S. Guatemala’s Foreign Minister, Carlos Raul Morales, has been particularly focused on the B.D.F., criticizing their training and rules of engagement. Today, for the first time, B.D.F. […]
If you wanted more assurance that the rhetoric has been dialed way down, you’d only have to listen to an interview from Guatemala’s Minister of Defense Williams Mansilla over the weekend. He told the press in Guatemala that there was no declaration of war, and not even a mobilization of troops as was widely reported. […]
