It has descended like dusk in the rainforest. What I’m talking about is a news blackout now in effect over the talks with Guatemala being held in Washington. Both the Belizean and Guatemalan delegates, along with their OAS facilitators, have agreed not to release anything to the media until they have decided exactly what they […]
Day two of the latest round of talks between Guatemala and Belize continued today at OAS headquarters in Washington. News 5 spoke to negotiators this afternoon who declined to discuss details until the meeting adjourned later tonight. Earlier news reports quoted chief negotiator Ambassador Assad Shoman as having little hope that a settlement of the […]
While the bulk of Belize’s diplomatic corps presents our case in Washington, Prime Minister Said Musa is engaging in a bit of diplomacy of his own in Haiti. The Prime Minister is in Port au Prince representing the CARICOM heads of government at the inauguration of President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Haiti is about to become […]
On Monday morning talks between Belize and Guatemala will open in Washington, D.C. Under the agreement signed in Miami on January seventeenth, the new round of negotiations, to be held at OAS headquarters, will for the first time deal with the substantive matter of Guatemala’s territorial claim. Just how far the parties will travel down […]
Over the last several years the Washington based Interamerican Development Bank has become the lender of choice for the Belize government’s most critical development projects. That relationship was cemented by the IDB’s rapid response in the wake of Hurricane Keith. Today a high powered team of IDB executive directors arrived in the country to see […]
The foreign minister of El Salvador today met with Prime Minister Said Musa. Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila met with the P.M. this morning in Belmopan. The primary purpose of the visit was to thank Belize for assistance provided in the wake of the devastating earthquake, which struck El Salvador on January thirteenth. Two containers […]
As I speak negotiators from Belize and Guatemala are meeting in a final session in Miami where they are expected to sign an agreement clarifying the situation along the border. News director Stewart Krohn is just off the phone with chief Belizean negotiator, Ambassador Assad Shoman, who reports the following: A draft agreement has been […]
Talks between Belizean and Guatemalan diplomats opened in Miami this morning and at newstime there was cautious optimism coming from the Belize side. Ambassador Assad Shoman, head of Belize’s negotiating team, told News 5 that today’s meetings had gone “encouragingly well” and that some understanding could be concluded when the talks continue on Wednesday. Most […]
While an air of Marion induced fantasy hovered over Belize City today, events over a hundred miles to the southwest served to bring many Belizeans back to reality. Whipped up by a jingoistic press and opportunistic military, Guatemalan officials have been making unfriendly noises and threatening to defend to the death the rights of hundreds […]
Belize’s embassy in Guatemala City has confirmed that the Guatemalan government will be participating in the ministerial level talks to be held in Miami on January sixteenth. The invitation was issued by the two facilitators in the Belize-Guatemala negotiations, Sir Shridath Ramphal and Paul Reichler. Tensions have been mounting at the border as Guatemala reacted […]
Ambassador Assad Shoman has completed a visit to Guatemala where he held talks with the President and senior officials. In a joint press release it was announced that in his meetings with President Alfonso Portillo, Vice President Juan Francisco Reyes and Foreign Minister Gabriel Orellana, Shoman discussed the progress of establishing confidence-building measures between the […]
Belize has officially become a full member of the Central American Integration System, SICA. At a brief ceremony earlier this month at SICA headquarters in El Salvador, Belize was welcomed into the organisation, at which it previously had only observer status. The other members of SICA include Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and […]
After one month of drama the United States of America has finally decided who its next president will be. Although the decision was ultimately decided by the 5-4 decision of a bitterly divided Supreme Court, the world’s only superpower appears ready to move on, and by inauguration day on January 20th it should be business […]
New funding for development projects has been secured from the World Bank. Meeting on Friday at the Bank’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, Minister of Budget Planning Ralph Fonseca signed a thirteen million dollar loan agreement for street and drainage improvements in the nation’s municipalities, as well as work on the upgrading of the Boom Hattieville Road. […]
Town Councillors countrywide are expected to upgrade their record keeping and data collecting skills with the aid of state-of-the-art computers. The donation, which includes seventeen computers, monitors and printers, was made possible through the Korean International Co-operation Programme. Minister of Local Government Valdemar Castillo received the donation from Counsellor Jung Soo Doo of the Korean […]
The meeting of potential providers of post hurricane assistance took place on Thursday in Washington, and News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams is just off the plane with her take on the proceedings. Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting Belizean officials are optimistic that their efforts to mobilise long-term economic support in the wake of Hurricane Keith will be successful. […]
It was a lesson in how to respond to disaster efficiently. Having approved a twenty million U.S. dollar emergency relief package in record time, the Interamerican Development Bank went one step further to organise a meeting of potential long term donors to help Belize recover from Hurricane Keith. That meeting was held today at IDB […]
Prime Minister Said Musa is back from Mexico City, where he represented Belize at Friday’s inauguration of Mexican president Vicente Fox. While there, Musa took the opportunity to hold bilateral talks with fellow heads of government and also joined other Central American leaders on Thursday for a special working session with the president-elect. Coming out […]
It’s not often that Belize entertains a visiting head of state. And even though the length of the visit was measured in minutes rather than days, it’s the thought that counts. Ann-Marie reports from the PGIA. Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting President Andres Pastrana made a brief stop over visit to Belize this morning on his way […]
In between the Colombian presidential flights, the Philip Goldson International Airport will also be receiving another shipment of hurricane relief. This one, at eight-thirty Friday morning, involves the arrival of the first contingent of twenty-five Cuban construction workers. The Cubans will be in Belize for six months to build houses and train local counterparts in […]
On Thursday Belize will receive a visit from the head of state of Colombia. President Andres Pastrana will touch down briefly at nine-fifteen in the morning at Philip Goldson International Airport, before moving on to Mexico City for the inauguration of President Vicente Fox. Pastrana’s jet will be preceded on the tarmac by the arrival […]
It’s been in the pipeline almost since the winds of Hurricane Keith crossed the border into Mexico…but now it’s official. On Tuesday evening in Washington, D.C. Interamerican Development Bank president Enrique Iglesias and Belize’s ambassador Lisa Shoman signed the documents for a twenty million U.S. dollar hurricane emergency loan. The loan was processed in record […]
While this week’s signing of an agreement to defuse border tensions between Belize and Guatemala appears to be a step forward, a quick read of the Guatemalan newspapers shows just how wide a gap remains in the perception of the respective parties. Several weeks ago we reported on an incident in which soldiers of the […]
More details have become available on the agreement signed Wednesday between Belize and Guatemala. The twelve point document, signed at OAS headquarters in Washington D.C., deals solely with confidence building measures that will be undertaken by both countries along their common border. Article one lays the groundwork by stipulating that the measures outlined in the […]
In news out of Washington of a more immediate nature, the region’s diplomats are all smiles as delegations from Belize and Guatemala have reached agreement on the way forward for the resolution of their long standing dispute. At OAS headquarters today, the two countries adopted a comprehensive set of confidence building measures to avoid conflict […]
