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Should Belizeans vote to take their case to the International Court of Justice, or not? That’s the question that was considered at a public forum yesterday afternoon at Wesley Church on Albert Street. The event was organized by the Methodist Church Men¹s Commission as a sort of unofficial precursor to the formal education campaign that’s supposed to start once the political directorate in both countries agree to hold a referendum. In Belize it’s automatic but in Guatemala, it’s complex because the decision to hold a referendum would have to be approved by a fractious and unpredictable Congress. Still, the issue remains very live in Belize, and a distinguished panel of presenters examined the issue from all sides in a session that was like Sunday school – for adults. Our camera was there.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
A modest crowd filled the pews at Wesley Methodist Church on Sunday – but what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in vigour. The panellists each presented different views on different aspects of the question of the International Court of Justice.

Lisa Shoman,
“It is a very popular view that our negotiations and our history have taught us that we will not anywhere with Guatemala through negotiation or discussion. You hear that the British have tried and failed, the US have tired and failed and that we have tried and failed. And so therefore why should we do anything about this now. The hard reality is ladies and gentlemen that doing nothing carries its own price, that doing nothing will have its own repercussions.”

Hubert Elrington,
“At the end of this it is not going to be the government that is going to decide. It is not going to be the National Assembly that is going to decide. So you answer the question yourself. So there is need for you to be railing at the government, at the National Assembly, at Guatemala, at Britain. It is has come knocking at your door. It is going to measure your height, it is going to measure your strength, it is going to measure your capacity, it is going to measure everything that is good and maybe some of the things that are bad in it. But the decision is going to be yours.”

Eamon Courtenay, Member – Negotiating Team
“I feel that negotiations have failed and I say that in the context of failing to produce a negotiated settlement. That having occurred the question is what’s next and the result is that we must go towards a referendum. Let me just it is important to understand why the negotiations have failed. They have failed because Belize negotiated from a principle position that we will not cede one square centimetre. If we were prepared as a negotiating team to give some land to Guatemala, this matter could have been finished a long time ago. So I celebrate the failure, it is not that I am saying something was wrong in having failed. I celebrate in the sense that we have maintained our territorial integrity.

But there is one underlying assumption and that is that the people of Belize want a solution to the Guatemalan claim. If you don’t want a solution, there is no need to go to court. We know that we can’t negotiate the solution, there is no need to go to court and Guatemala can keep saying what they want to say and we will keeping saying what we say and there is no resolution. But if we want a resolution, the only option at this stage is to go to court.”

But Courtenay conceded that if we go to court one of the risks is that Belize may have to give up more than a few blades of grass in a border adjustment.

Eamon Courtenay,
“If we want it resolved by the court then we have to understand that there is some risk. My view is that there is a very small risk, a negligible risk that there will be an adjustment to the border. But we have to decide whether we’re prepared to accept that risk.”

Ambassador Fred Martinez, Chief Negotiator
“Eamon mentioned a worse case scenario of a change to the borderline but it would not be because the court says alright we will give them a piece. The worse case scenario in our mind listening and reading all the opinions, all the information we have in our hands, is maybe this thing was surveyed wrongly and it has to be shifted maybe one hundred feet or so on the point up there. But we don’t see any major changes in that worst case scenario.”

Eamon Courtenay,
“And so the question is are we prepared to risk that, to have the court yes the 1859 treaty stands but where that marker is, it ought to be somewhere else and therefore you have to move one kilometre, half a kilometre or whatever into Belize. I think when we talk about a risk, I mean we have to be fair, that is really the risk that we’re talking about. I think it is to a sufficient degree of certainty for us to say that the possibility of the ICJ saying Stann Creek or half of Cayo or half of Corozal will become part of Guatemala is virtually zero. That’s just not going to happen based on all the cases that they have done and all the advice we have received. The question for Belizeans is what is your tolerance for the level of adjustment. That in my view is really the question.”

But this crowd had many more questions – and declarations.

Mark Usher,
“This is the national position: no concession, not a single square inch, not a blade of grass, not one ripe mango, not one red snapper, not one ounce of Belizean oil, not one Belizean grain of soil. That is the national position.”

Hubert Elrington,
“That might be your position but what we need to get is a Belizean position, a real Belizean position. At the end of the day, the will of the people trumps all the laws.”

To clarify, the possible marginal adjustment on the border that they spoke about is that area between Benque Viejo – or more specifically Garbutt’s Falls – and the tri-point border marker between Belize Guatemala and Mexico at Aguas Turbias – which has never been physically surveyed and the marker that presently stands is believed to have a marginal error to the west – which would means that correcting it could require hemming it in eastwards possibly half a kilometre.

And what about the government sponsored forums to educate the public on both sides of the issue? Ambassador Martinez says that government is waiting until after the municipal elections and until there is some indication of moving forward coming out of Guatemala to start those up.