Against the backdrop of everything happening in diplomatic halls and in the Sarstoon, has Belize’s rhetoric changed somewhat? For months all Belizeans heard out of meetings between countries was talk of peace and love and warm, happy friendship. But recently we’ve heard even Prime Minister Dean Barrow express anger and distress with what appears to […]
This weekend, Cuba was the venue for the Association of Caribbean States’ seventh Summit of Heads of State and Government. Belize was represented by Gaspar Vega in his last official undertaking as Deputy Prime Minister, accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington. The Summit is designed to forge stronger ties between the participating countries […]
Guatemala was also represented at the seventh Summit in Cuba, by President Jimmy Morales and Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales. Not surprisingly, the president didn’t take kindly to the address by Vega soliciting the support of the ACS and asked permission to respond specifically to Vega’s comments. Jimmy Morales, President, Guatemala “Thank you very […]
While diplomats and high-level representatives from both Belize and Guatemala try to forge some sort of acceptable accord between countries, there are other initiatives to do the same on other levels. Just over a week ago at least sixty pastors from Belize and Guatemala met in the Adjacency Zone between Benque Viejo and Melchor de […]
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali – died over the weekend. Ali was at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona where he died on Friday. Considered one of the world’s greatest sporting figures, since his passing, tributes have been flowing from all over the world to honor the former world heavyweight champion. The reports are that he was […]
The Caribbean Court of Justice is set to hand down a decision in a highly publicized case involving outspoken Jamaican gay rights activist Maurice Tomlinson and the State of Trinidad and Tobago. Belize is also a party to the claim brought by Tomlinson who asserts that his right to move freely within the CARICOM member […]
A delegation of representatives from various countries participating in the upcoming CODICADER Games arrived at the Phillip Goldson International Airport today. The team is here to conduct an assessment of facilities which will be used for the respective sporting activities. While a majority of those venues are supposedly up to scratch, work is underway to […]
For months a scandal involving widespread corruption in FIFA has continued to unravel. Today, the U.K. based Guardian newspaper is reporting that lawyers representing the football organization have revealed that three high-ranking former FIFA officials secretly gave themselves pay raises and massive World Cup bonuses totalling a whopping seventy-nine million US dollars. According to the […]
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred Elrington attended the eight summit of the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Heads of State and Governments. The summit concluded today in Papua New Guinea with the adoption of a declaration which included language on Belize. It reads in part: “We strongly reaffirm unequivocal support for Belize’s sovereignty and territorial integrity […]
On Friday News Five was stopped by Guatemalan military as we tried to enter the Sarstoon. They claimed that we were in their national waters. That claim is nothing new, but it is distressing because just days before Belize and Guatemala had allegedly come to an informal understanding that Belizeans would be allowed untrammeled access […]
While John Saldivar has been in the news of late mostly in reference to his bid for U.D.P. Deputy Leader, he is the Minister of National Security and border security features prominently in his portfolio. So when we had the opportunity we asked him about the incident on Friday in the Sarstoon, and also about […]
Guatemala has issued a formal letter of protest to Belize with reference to a trip to the Sarstoon last Friday. Tonight, we can say that Guatemalan Ambassador to Belize Manuel Roldan has outrightly disputed our version of events. Just for some clarity, on Friday morning News Five attempted to go down the Northern Channel of […]
Based on the incident in the Sarstoon last Friday, today the People’s United Party issued a very strong release demanding that the government, “Act to re-establish full sovereignty and control over the Belizean internal waters of the Sarstoon River and Sarstoon Island.” The release called the interception of Belizean media in the Sarstoon illegal a […]
There continues to be much reference to what was referred to in a government release last Tuesday as an informal acceptance of a situation in which, “there will be untrammeled traffic for Belize’s military and civilians along the Sarstoon.” The wording is a little ambiguous, and since Courtenay was in Istanbul when this so-called agreement […]
You’ll notice that while Guatemala did not reject the assertion by Minister Elrington, they didn’t accept it either, so therein may lie the confusion. As was stated by Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Friday, there are also frequent claims by Guatemala that decisions made in these high-level meetings do not always reach the Sarstoon. Courtenay […]
The P.U.P. release issued today also specifically issues a call for the appointment of a, “national team to competently manage Belize/Guatemala.” So is the P.U.P. saying that the current team is not competent? We asked Courtenay since he is speaking for the P.U.P., but is also a member of the current team in negotiations with […]
At the political level, there is tension between Belize and Guatemala as relations deteriorate over Guatemala’s assertion that it owns the Sarstoon. But over the weekend, you would not have known that. Evangelical pastors from Belize and Guatemala converged at the border to pray for peace; it all happened in front of the O.A.S. Office […]
A protest of about five hundred persons was held in Melchor de Mencos which is the nearest community across the western border where Belizeans trek to shop. Initially, Sunday’s protest was to highlight the downturn in economic activity occasioned by the tensions between Belize and Guatemala. But the protesters also took the opportunity to condemn […]
Even as our team headed back to Belize City, deterred from entering the Sarstoon but having made the point that Guatemala isn’t playing on the same checkerboard, Prime Minister Dean Barrow weighed in on the incident with extreme prejudice. Apparently he had been briefed by C.E.O. in the Ministry of National Security George Lovell, likely […]
A release issued by government on Tuesday, announcing the revocation of the Sarstoon Prohibition SI, stated that, “While the formal mechanism is being worked on, the two sides have informally accepted a situation in which there will be untrammeled traffic for Belize’s military and civilians along the Sarstoon.” So what exactly is an informal acceptance? […]
So with Belizean civilians still not able to enter the Sarstoon, what happens next? Will government perhaps seek to reinstitute the Sarstoon Law? On the Phone: Prime Minister Dean Barrow “Why would I do that? That S.I. was to serve the limited purpose of ensuring that at the time the circumstances that saw us […]
There is another developing story. It is well-known that Guatemalan nationals illegally enter Belizean territory for illegal activities. Most recently when the Sarstoon law applied, their fishermen routinely traversed into Belize to fish while the local fisher folk were barred from entering the Sarstoon. Now, on Thursday night, a total of eight Belizeans were detained […]
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that US businessman, Robert Bandfield, has pleaded guilty to helping stock manipulators launder two hundred and fifty million dollars through Belize. The seventy-one year old pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn Federal Court to one count of money laundering and is facing as many as twenty years in prison. Bandfield […]
The Belize Male National Volleyball Team wins the Copa Cancun 2016 Tournament. Over the weekend, three teams from Belize, including the MOEN Stars female team and the UB Black Jaguars travelled to Mexico to participate in the tournament. After several rounds of competition, the Belize Male National Team walked away as the champions, beating out […]
That’s big news indeed, since the Sarstoon has remained a potential flashpoint for months. So that brings us to the Istanbul talks, scheduled for May twenty-first. We’re told they didn’t happen then, but actually on Monday and today with the participation of Magdalena Talamas representing O.A.S. Secretary-General Luis Almagro. Looking at a release on those […]
