On the face of it, those proposals should be a tough sell considering Guatemala’s recently very aggressive position in the Sarstoon. At the highest levels of government in that republic, the stance has been that the entire river belongs to Guatemala and they will do whatever is necessary to control all area within their sovereign […]
Seasoned negotiator and expert in the field of Guatemala dispute, Ambassador Shoman, explained that nothing at this point is set in stone despite first perception. Still, he asserts that the goal is to push Guatemala into treating the Sarstoon situation as a matter of extreme urgency and that means setting very tight deadlines for a […]
Since we had the experts in the room, News Five also asked about the mysterious current protocols governing the Sarstoon. We’re referring to those purported protocols which dictate that Belizean military and civilians who wish to enter the Sarstoon must first go over to the Guatemalan base there and ask permission. Guatemala has stood by […]
Last Friday, our News Five team camped out under a “hammans” tree outside O.A.S. Office in the adjacency zone for hours. Inside were top diplomats from Belize and Guatemala, Foreign Affairs Ministers Wilfred Elrington and Carlos Raul Morales. They were joined by top military commanders for both countries, General David Jones and General Carlos Eduardo […]
A resolution within days may be a matter easier said than done. Guatemala maintains that the Sarstoon is theirs, and in a recent diplomatic note stated that they will continue to assert that sovereignty over what is theirs. They have done just that. While diplomats from both countries sip tea and share anecdotes, the G.A.F. […]
As hostilities mount in the Sarstoon, there has been some progress made in agreeing to specific confidence building measures and protocols for engagement in the Sarstoon, though not a definitive resolution just yet. The announcement came at five this evening at O.A.S. headquarters in the adjacency zone, where high level diplomatic and military officials from […]
The meeting today was especially significant in the wake of what the Prime Minister has called the ramping up of aggression by Guatemala in the Sarstoon, culminating in the interception of a SATIIM boat carrying rangers on patrol just three days ago. The issue, in a nutshell, is that Belize has been operating on premise […]
Belize attended the meeting at O.A.S. headquarters with draft Sarstoon protocols in hand, aimed at defusing a potentially dangerous situation in the Southern River. So after all the diplomatic speak, just how close are both countries to establishing constructive, peaceful rules of engagement in the Sarstoon? Opposition representative on the Belize delegation Assad Shoman explained. […]
So that’s where both country’s ended today’s apparently constructive meeting at O.A.S. headquarters – not exactly a breakthrough just yet, but according to representatives that point could be reached in a matter of days. News Five did intend to ask military representatives at the meeting about the immediate effect of today’s tentative progress where the […]
The Leader of the Opposition, John Briceño met with Prime Minister Dean Barrow at the P.M.’s office on Coney Drive in Belize City this morning in light of the troubling pattern of the Guatemalan Armed Forces operating in the Sarstoon. As recent as Tuesday, GAF attempted to block SATIIM from travelling upstream. The GAF accused […]
Another incident that has stirred tensions is the shooting of B.D.F. Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey in the area of Valentin Camp inside the Chiquibul Forest. The safety of soldiers and F.C.D. rangers along the western border is being called to question since the attack on Lambey took place well within Belizean territory. The incident also […]
On Holy Saturday, B.D.F. Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey was shot as he led a patrol to a water source near Valentin Camp in the Chiquibul. After undergoing treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, he was released and is recovering at his home in Punta Gorda. But five days after the shooting, a confidential report […]
The government has not said much concerning the shooting of Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey that took place in the Chiquibul on Holy Saturday, but tonight, News Five has received further details on the report made by the B.D.F. to the Ministry of National Security. That report is dated March thirty-first, 2016. According to the B.D.F., […]
On Saturday, Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey was shot on the hand and abdomen while he was on duty at Camp Valentin in the Chiquibul. Lambey was assaulted by a group of men, believed to be from the community of La Rejoya, Guatemala. He was at a routine water supply and administration task when he and […]
In early March, there was an armed encounter between Belize Defense Force soldiers on foot patrol in the Chiquibul National Park and Guatemalan poachers. At the time, one of the illegal hunters was shot in the leg, in an area known as Cebada, where illegal activities are known to abound. Over the weekend, news quickly […]
This afternoon, COLA issued a statement on the shooting of Lambey. COLA called on the government to undertake an aggressive internationalization of the territorial dispute by Guatemala. COLA’s President Geovanni Brackett told News Five today that government should issue a timely and relevant response to the latest incident in the adjacency zone. Geovanni Brackett, […]
Today’s session in the House of Representatives, the second day of the new budget for the fiscal year beginning April first, was led by Area Representative for Pickstock Wilfred Elrington. But for him, as for his colleagues before, issues took precedence over any actual debate in the figures in the budget book. For Elrington, the […]
The head of this country, Prime Minister Dean Barrow, has condemned the aggressive actions of the Guatemalans at the Sarstoon, not only in the wake of this last incident but on a previous occasion when Guatemalan military attempted to stop a BTV expedition from entering the river. In separate press conferences, the Prime Minister has […]
Still on the issue of the Sarstoon, Guatemala’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded fast and furious to a release from the CARICOM Secretariat in which the region expresses support for Belize in the backdrop of the recent incursions in the Sarstoon by the Guatemalan Armed Forces. The GAF blocked the Belize Territorial Volunteers and […]
In the absence of an adjacency zone at the southern border with Guatemala, a protocol on how to deal with civilians and military personnel traversing the area of the Sarstoon River is being developed. That set of guidelines will see input from military leaders on both sides of the geographic divide. While there is a […]
If you’ve wondered why there is no rise in hostility between Belize and Guatemala when illegal hunters are found inside Belizean territory it’s because the adjacency zone clearly demarcates the 1859 treaty line. Such is not the case at the Sarstoon. Commander Jones explains. Isani Cayetano “It doesn’t seem as though there is much […]
The Belize Territorial Volunteers, led by activist Wil Maheia, has come under fire recently for its purported role in rousing hostilities in the south, between the B.D.F. and Guatemalan military. While the group is being blamed in part for agitating an already tense situation, details of a threat assessment documenting those incidents and others have […]
Barring an official protocol governing the rules of engagement at the southern-most border of Belize, the Sarstoon, there seems little clarity on the situation there. Things came to a head just over a week ago when Guatemalan military came into Belizean waters in front of the Forward Operating Base and informed soldiers stationed there that […]
On Thursday evening, Minister Wilfred Elrington, flanked by Ambassadors Assad Shoman and Alexis Rosado, hosted a press conference in Belize City. It was intended as a public briefing, following meetings at O.A.S. headquarters in Washington on Tuesday, and took on added significance in the wake of a military to military incident in the Sarstoon on […]
The concern by the head of government and his security council was evident following that meeting. From his words it appears that the Prime Minister intended his delegation to O.A.S. headquarters to immediately apprise our international friends of the crisis in the making, the threat to Belize’s sovereignty precipitated by Guatemala’s actions in the Sarstoon. […]
