7 News Belize

SICA Foreign Ministers Talk Migration
posted (December 14, 2018)
And while the Prime Minister and Presidents gathered today, yesterday it was the Central American Foreign Ministers who met in the 75th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of SICA.

And, the territorial dispute between Belize and Guatemala was not at the forefront of yesterday's meeting. What they were talking about was migration. As was made famous by the migrant caravan including residents of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, Central America continues to be an area of intense migratory pressures.

Elrington touched on this in his opening of the Council of Ministers meeting:...

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"The issue of migration will continue to overshadow our regional progress indefinitely. It will therefore be imperative in our view for us to muster the necessary political will and courage to address the root causes of migration. For our regional integration to grow, to become entrenched, to prosper we must redouble our efforts strengthen our unity and solidarity and ensure that every day our citizens can see how SICA is impacting and contributing towards the improvement of their lives. Without the full buy in involvement support partnership of our citizens, our endeavors will flounder. In addition to visibility we must ensure that the programs and initiatives be approved and implement are people centered."

At almost 11 years in the job, Elrington is the most senior Minister of Foreign Affairs in the region - and he told us he is respected as such throughout the region and the world, except for Belize:...

Reporter
"Are you afforded the respect and the preeminence that a senior personality such as yourself - 11 years into office?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"The only place I am not afforded and accorded that respect is here in Belize. But when I go to New York and the United Nations or I am in Caricom or SICA or the OAS, I am always accorded. Maximum respect. A prophet is never welcomed in his own country. Remember what they did to Jesus Christ? They killed him. So I don't expect any better treatment."

"Truthfully it doesn't matter me, because I understand it. What concerns me is that the misinformation that is being spread with a view to denigrate me, give Belizeans false impression as to what is in their best interest. Because this conflate the two and in telling them negative things about me, they tend to neutralize the positive messages that I am trying to give to the Belizean people."

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize