As we reported on Wednesday, the issue of Guatemala’s territorial claim over Belize and the joint referenda to elevate the matter to the International Court of Justice was not discussed during the O.A.S. General Assembly. Guatemala’s Foreign Minister, Fernando Carrera, told News Five that prior to the annual meeting a decision was taken that neither […]
Turning to the referendum…when Guatemala announced it was not holding a referendum this year but in 2014, Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington said that he will be meeting his counterpart in the margins of the O.A.S. to press for a specific date. But that meeting will not be taking place at this time. C.E.O. Alexis Rosado […]
The issue of official documents, including Guatemalan passports, being printed with Belize adjoined as part of its territory, has raised the ire of many Belizeans since a date for simultaneous referenda on the territorial claim remains to be set. In an interview with News Five today, Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Fernando Carrera, said that discussions on […]
The offices of the Organization of American States have been established in Belize for over a decade. Aside from a Belize City office, there is another that houses the General Secretariat of the organization and is snuggled at the official border crossing between Belize and Guatemala which is committed to keeping peace in the adjacency […]
Former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt was sentenced to eighty years in prison after being found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity on May tenth. Under his regime, one thousand seven hundred and seventy one indigenous people were killed in 1982 and 1983. A witness at the trial accused current Guatemalan president Otto Perez […]
There will not be a referendum to take Guatemala’s unfounded claim to fifty percent of Belize’s territory to the International Court of Justice, at least not this October sixth. Both nations had agreed to that date on April twenty-seventh 2012, but since last year, the Guatemalan President and Foreign Minister made several public declarations about […]
The forty-third regular assembly of the Organization of American States is being held in Antigua, Guatemala from June fourth to sixth. Guatemala had produced videos that show Belize and Guatemala as one country and those images had been presented at a previous O.A.S. General Assembly in Colombia and at an O.A.S. gathering in Washington. It […]
As we reported on Wednesday, Belize and Guatemala have been meeting with the O.A.S. in Washington. Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington, along with a delegation of government officials, returned this morning, following a round of discussions with Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Fernando Carrera and O.A.S. Secretary General Miguel Angel Insulza. The purpose of the meeting […]
Joining the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the visit to Washington was former Leader of the Opposition John Briceño. While the People’s United Party has not presented a formal position on the matter of the joint referenda, Briceño says that they have commenced a series of consultations among regional executives of the party. John […]
The October referendum has been called off; first by Guatemala on the basis that they wanted Belize to amend the Referendum Act to change the sixty percent voter turnout to a simple majority and also because they were not prepared to spend millions of dollars on a process which likely would not have yielded a […]
Turning to other main stories for the day… There will be no Belize/Guatemala referendum on October sixth, 2013. That revelation, and comments on various other issues, was made during a media brief by Prime Minister Dean Barrow which lasted almost an hour and a half. The forum was his quarterly press conference, and during the […]
The backdrop for the referendum discussions was a bilateral meeting held between Belize and Guatemala in Haiti on Thursday, but even before that, Prime Minister Dean Barrow says he presented Belize’s case to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon during a meeting in New York. Chief on the agenda of that discussion were […]
At the last O.A.S. General Assembly in Bolivia and at a meeting in February in Washington, Guatemala presented a video that annexed Belize to Guatemala. Belize Ambassador to the O.A.S. Nestor Mendez protested the video for the offensive image. The next General Assembly is to be held in Antigua, Guatemala on June sixth and the […]
Another date that is on the collective minds of the two countries is October sixth, the scheduled date for a dual referendum on whether or not the dispute should be forwarded to the International Court of Justice. Reports from Guatemala’s Prensa Libre newspaper have quoted both President Otto Perez Molina and Foreign Minister Fernando Carrera […]
The two R’s remain on the front burner as it relates to issues of national importance …rosewood and the referendum. On Monday, News Five asked Minister Wilfred Elrington if our CARICOM allies will be asked to support Belize on the referendum roadmap. The response from the Minister was surprising and sounded as if he was […]
The second highest ranking man in the Organization of American States is visiting. Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin is in Belize regarding relations among Belize, Guatemala and the O.A.S. Ramdin will oversee the upcoming General Assembly that will be held in Antigua, Guatemala from the fourth to the sixth of June. That holds significance for […]
In early April, the Belize Territorial Volunteers traveled to Dolores in Toledo to continue their “Clear the Border” project in which they intend to demarcate the border between Belize and Guatemala. During this second excursion, they alleged that a Guatemalan company called African Palm Plantation had its property on this side of the border. The […]
At the top of the newscast, you heard the Minister of Foreign Affairs say that the Belize delegation would walk out of the June O.A.S. General assembly if Guatemala produces images offensive to the territorial integrity of Belize. But Guatemala also intends on producing ten million passports that will annex Belize to its landmass. Would […]
Despite all the offensive actions taken by Guatemala showing that it is keeping the unfounded claim alive, Minister Elrington says his ministry must wait for an official response from the O.A.S. regarding Guatemala’s position regarding the October sixth referendum. Guatemala’s President, Otto Perez Molina, had requested via the O.A.S. that Belize amends the Referendum Act […]
Guatemala’s President Otto Perez Molina is making it abundantly clear that if Belize does not change the October sixth referendum date, Guatemala will not proceed to hold the referendum. The president made the statement on Wednesday adding that he was not prepared to waste two hundred and sixty million quetzals or thirty-two million U.S. dollars […]
The National Executive of the People’s United Party met this morning. It took a decision in respect of the new Guatemalan passports which are causing a firestorm among Belizeans. As it stands, the Guatemalan government is proposing to print four million passports over the next ten years. But what is irking Belizeans is that the […]
Earlier in the newscast we told you about this past weekend’s trip by the Belize Territorial Volunteers to the Dolores area to which the Organization of American States responded positively to an invitation to act as observers on the expedition. And representatives from the OAS were present indeed, but rather than maintaining a prudent distance […]
At the end of February the Belize Territorial Volunteers, led by Wil Maheia, travelled from the village of Jalacte in the deep-south to the border with the Guatemalan village of Santa Cruz. That expedition was without incident, and buoyed on that success, and on an undeniable sentiment of patriotism, the group headed back to the […]
Currently relations between Belize and Guatemala are at what could be called an impasse, with the O.A.S. somewhat in the middle. Latest word from Guatemala is that the country will ask the O.A.S. to intercede with Belize to postpone the referendum, and that is likely what’s on the agenda for a meeting scheduled this week […]
Former British Prime Minister, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, passed away earlier today at age eighty-seven after suffering a stroke. This morning, the current prime minister, David Cameroon, called her the greatest prime minister who not only served but saved her country. According to her family, Thatcher has been battling several illnesses as well as dementia for […]
