We also asked Foreign Minister Elrington about that confrontation which the conservation NGO, SATIIM, had with the Guatemalan military at the Mouth of the Sarstoon River, 14 days ago.
On November 10 a SATIIM Forest patrol was on the way to monitor deforestation and illegal activities in their ancestral lands in Southern Belize. That's when the Guatemalan military stopped them and told them they need permission before going up-river.
It's their second confrontation with the Guatemalan navy, which is based right across the river from the BDF's Sarstoon Forward Operating Base.
Elrington told us that shortly after it had happened, he received a report from the BDF:
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I can recall hearing from my CEO that he in fact got some report on the matter from the military and I can recall seeing a footage of the matter on the television. Let me make it illusive to the Belizean population - if you have a dispute, a territorial dispute, incidents of those types will happen all the time. It is for that reason that we have been at pains to say to Belizeans try to avoid the area, so as not to cause any undue confrontation and problem. It's not because we don't think we own it. Our contention is that we own it and the entire world heard me in September say that, that it belongs to us in a plosive way. But the Guatemalans hold a different view and if you go there they are likely to take actions which they regard as being consistent with their own national self-interest. You cannot be hurt to complain and cry that this is happening. You should know that it will happen, because of the position the Guatemalans take. But you have to 
rely on the assurance given to you by your government that we are doing all in our power to ensure that those incidents don't occur and to ensure that we maintain our entitlement to that half of the river both in law and in fact. We are handling it. Our military go through that river on a weekly basis. They are not stopped, they are not interfered with. It is certainly not a military zone. I've never heard the Guatemalans say that it was a military zone. They've talk of a protocol, we are not aware of any such protocol. As a matter of fact, you all will know that we have been trying to get the Guatemalans to sit down to agree to a protocol similar to the type that we have on the western border."
For Elrington, incidents like these only further convince him that taking the claim to the International Court of Justice is the only way forward. But can any court keep a bully in check? Elrington thinks so:
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"It is something that we can expect so long as the border dispute continues to fester. It is only likely to stop, perhaps diminish after we get a definitive decision at the International Court of Justice and I would like to urge the media to really put the word out to Belizeans that if we want to see as diminution of this kind of incidents, if you want it to come to an end, then we have to decide to go and resolve it at the only place where it can be resolve lawfully and where we will get the full backing of the international community and that is at the ICJ which is the court of the United Nations."
Elrington told us that in the normal course of action, Belize sends a diplomatic note of protest, and so he believes that one was sent in this case. That doesn't sound too sure, so, for the record, his exact words were, quote, "We send protest notes to the Guatemalans every time incidents occur, and I am sure that we would have sent a protest note in relation to this SATIIM incident." End quote.
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