At the top of the news, we showed you our interview with the National Security Minister John Saldivar and Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington. They were discussing the latest confrontation between the Guatemalan Armed Forces and the Belize Territorial Volunteers on the Sarstoon River.
Of course, the from the Foreign Minister's perspective, these confrontations will continue to occur, unless and until Belize finds a way to resolve Guatemala's territorial claim over our country. And the mode of resolution that the Government is pushing at this time is to take the Guatemala claim to the International Court of Justice.
Its been a few months now that the Government launched it's ICJ campaign, and so, the press asked the Foreign Minister for an update on how it has been going. He said that he is has been surprised by the the amount of Belizeans he's encountered so far who don't know much about the history of the claim:
Hon. Wilfred Elrington- Minister of Foreign Affairs
"The thing that has surprised me most and continues to surprise me up to this day is the absence of knowledge on this issue on the part of most Belizeans. Belizeans high and low really don't know the details of it. And we have tremendous work ahead to educate and inform people. My own experience is that invariably when we inform people and we show them the history and we tell them the circumstances they are modified and say yes we think we should go to the ICJ. Some said, 'why didn't you tell us that long ago?' There are a few who seem to have resolved quite early that they will not go and they will seek to advise Belizeans not to go. They don't seem to have an alternative but they seem to get some kind of pleasure out of telling Belizeans not to go. And of course they have been doing that for months and months and months."
Elrington also shared a few details of how exactly the information campaign will take form from now until April 10th of next year, when Belize holds the national referendum, and asks Citizens whether we should go to the ICJ:
Hon. Wilfred Elrington- Minister of Foreign Affairs
"The campaign is headed by ambassador Rosado and ambassador Rosado has divided it into three phases. One phase, where we will simply be telling people to know the facts. At this point in time all we are doing is disseminating information and we are disseminating information in many ways. We are going to have it on a lot of billboards when you pass through driving; you will see billboards in the air. We are going to be putting posters on buses and vehicles. We are going to use Facebook and the other social media; we are going to use television and radio. And then as the date becomes nearer, we are going to be using messaging which is going to be more ones that are inducing people to come to a more favorable response. Rather than just information, we added those messaging which is going to induce people to vote towards a yes."
Daniel Ortiz- Reporter
"When you say induce what do you mean exactly?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"Encourage."
One big question on the minds of some Belizeans is what happens to the territorial claim if the majority of voters say no to taking it to the ICJ. Right now, there aren't many options being discussed, and when the press asked the Foreign Minister about that possibility, he said, there will be no new tactics to try:
Reporter
"What is the alternative to the ICJ being that there are people pushing for no. Is there any alternative?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"There are no new alternatives. Those who are saying no seem to be suggesting that we can continue the negotiation. The problem with that is that going to the ICJ is like getting married. You have to have the two parties to agree, you see. One person cannot get married. It has to be two. So, to reach any consensus the two countries have to agree. At this point in time we are at the stage where Guatemalan government has agreed to go to the ICJ and the Belize government has agreed to go to ICJ and the Guatemalan populace has agreed to go to the ICJ. Now, if we want to do any other thing, we would have to get the Guatemalan's to buy into that. And it took us over 70 years to agree to go to the ICJ. So, the likelihood that we would be able to get them to agree to any other thing is highly unlikely. The Guatemalan's have been insistent either that they get our land or that they get land and control over our foreign affairs and defense and that kind of thing. That is what has been the history of negotiations. They want to be responsible for foreign affairs, hey want to be responsible for defense or they want land down from the Temash or the Moho or whatever it is to the Sarstoon. Or they want Rambutan or the Sapodila range. That is what they have been asking for insistently. They are not asking for money, they want Belizean territory. The problem is that if you give them an inch, they will take the whole country."
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