Yesterday at his press conference, Prime Minister Dean Barrow's said that he personally supports a "yes" vote, so does Cabinet, and he thinks that Belizeans should be encouraged - not coerced - into voting to take Guatemala's territorial claim over Belize to the ICJ. He also said Belize has a watertight case.
Well, for a long-time opponents of the ICJ like Wil Maheia - those are famous last words. The border activist and politician, was the first to respond and criticize the government for wanting to encourage a "yes" vote. Today, he sent this video from PG statement making his stance clear:
Wil Maheia - Leader, BTV
"We here at the BTV, we are very disturbed and disappointed in some of the statements that the prime minister of Belize made yesterday at the press conference. For one when he is saying that he doesn't see what else we can do except going to ICJ, we think that's totally wrong because there are so many other things we can do instead of almost trying to convince the people of Belize to vote yes to go to the ICJ. We could have taken this to the security council, so when the prime minister is going to say there is nothing much that can be done or he doesn't see nothing else that can be done, I will like to call the attention of the people of Belize to very careful and think about it. This is the same prime minister that told us the people of Belize that he had an ironclad case when it came to BTL. Today we are in the hole, hundreds of millions of dollars. We are also very disappointed in the fact that we are seeking the assistance of the Guatemalans to help us to curve the incursion into the Chiquibul. When we have fixed wing aircrafts, we have helicopters, we have boots on the ground, there is no need for us to go to Guatemala to ask and seek for their assistance. We need to man our borders and it's not a long border so we at the BTV would like to call on the association of protected area managers, the NGOs, BNN, PACT and all the other people who care about protected areas to help step up the enforcement effort."
Maheia also called out the Prime Minister for being supportive of asking the Guatemalans to help stop the incursions into the Chiquibul. Here's how he explained that from his perspective, Belize could do that on its own, if there were the political will to do so:
Wil Maheia
"When it comes to the Chiquibul, the prime minister makes it look like the Chiquibul is this terrain that's almost impossible for us to patrol. That is what our men and women in the BDF are trained for, that is what the rangers are trained for, we know it is rugged terrain but it's nothing we can't handle. We know organizations, the BTV have been in the Chiquibul, have been in the Colombia Forrest and it's not impossible. What we need to do is to be serious about patrolling the Chiquibul and the Colombia Forrest Reserve and the Sarstoon; that's what we need to do, not looking for excuses. This is our country and we need to take care of it."
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