We also asked Briceño to comment on his party’s evolving position on whether or not Belize should go to the ICJ to litigate Guatemala’s territorial claim over the country.
Yesterday, the PUP’s Southern Caucus announced that they are quote, “firmly against going to the International Court of Justice”.
They say that the residents of Southern Belize have the most to lose and nothing to gain, since Guatemala claims half of Belizean territory from Sarstoon to the Sibun.
Briceño told the press today that he can understand that concern:
Hon. John Briceño - Leader of the Opposition
"We have already asked Senator Courtenay and Steward Leslie to start prepare a presentation to that we can do now and meet as many of our people as possible to give them the facts, the pros for going and the against of not going, the cons. At the end of the day we will come, I feel we will be able to come with a consensus as I have said when I've spoken on this matter. I can't get everyone to say yes, I can't get everyone to say no, we're a mass party, we have a lot of people with great ideas, intelligent people with their own positions and own intent but at the end of the day I believe that this issue will not divide the People's United Party."
Reporter
"The southern caucus already issued a press statement saying a resounding no towards the ICJ, does this not show division within the party prior to these meetings that you have scheduled for next week?"
Hon. John Briceño
"Absolutely not; we understand the southern caucus, their position, they believe that they are the ones that have the most to lose because well Guatemala in their letter that they sent in 1999, they are saying that they want to take over from the Sarstoon to the Sibune and they want to go to the ICJ for the rest of Belize and this what some people don't understand that Guatemala wants everything. Obviously they are not going to get a single centimetre of Belize because Belize we have our land document which is the 1859 treaty, we have possession, we've been on this land for over 200 years, we have decided as a people that we want to be a sovereign independent nation, so we have everything on our side. Guatemala with get nothing, Guatemala deserves nothing."
We also asked the Opposition leader about the UDP critics who keep on suggesting that their party’s inability to present a firm position one way or the other as a flip flip. They also keep reminding that Belize’s push to go to the ICJ for a resolution to the territorial claim was started under a PUP administration. We put that to Briceño, and here’s what he had to say:
Hon. John Briceño
"My person opinion as a citizen I believe that the ICJ is the best position we can to be able to settle and get Guatemala to stop their nonsense because it is stupidity on their part that they believe that they can own a single centimetre of this country but again I am a leader of a mass party and we need to be able to consult and give an opportunity to everybody to express their positions, their ideas, their believes and it's only at that moment we are going to have a position that is going to represent the party."
Daniel Ortiz
"Is it a concern for you that there may be this message or misinterpretation of a flip flop from the PUP on the ICJ issue? Because this push for ICJ started under your party and it seems as though the PUP is slowly moving away from a yes to a no."
Hon. John Briceño
"The party has never taken a position so how can it be a flip flop?"
Briceño says that his party will start to conduct consultations, where the most knowledgeable members, such as Senator Eamon Courtenay and Stuart Leslie, who was the coordinator of the Barrow Government’s Referendum Unit until he resigned, will be putting together a presentation of the facts and the history surrounding the Guatemala Territorial Dispute.
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