And while the House would - in the event of a yes vote - repeal the Maritime Areas Act - what about the Sarstoon. It remains a flashpoint for conflict between the Guatemalan military and Belizean civilians trying to access the river which forms Belize's sovereign boundary. The Guatemalans have constantly blocked civilians, and have menaced the Belizean military as well.
The Prime Minster says he has spoken to the Guatemalan President, the US Southern Command and the OAS about this:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I spoke to the President from the time he was here for the SICA conference and I said. please let's get the 2 militaries together so that we can work out this modus vivendi. First said we needed a protocol, he said that would have to go to congress and he didn't think he had the votes to go to congress - fine. Let's do it another way and he agreed and there was a meeting. The Guatemalans came to the meeting and said we are here to talk about any and everything, except the Sarstoon. We, apart from phone calls to President Morales, we use as I said the people at Southcom, in particular the head of the US Southern command who historically played a key role in getting the 2 militaries to speak and to have an understanding even tough that understanding would never be published anywhere or documented in writing. So we continue to try to work that particular lever. I from time to time speak to the OAS Secretary General and I did so most recently just after Easter when Wil Maheia had been turned back, just stressing that there really is a need for us to have some kind of rules on conduct, if you will. I certainly haven't heard of any incident laterally where the Guatemalans are stopping the BDF from doing their daily patrols around the island and the situation with Miss Nancy Juan Marin went as well as could have been expected in the circumstances. There is always a worry when the civilians are involved that if something happens they would be in harm's way. The fact that she was able to go plant a flag, so the Guatemalans removed it. But we know that they are hassling us, and they didn't as they had done with Wil attempt to stop her from even getting onto the island. So in a sense that is progress and again that is why we need to get to the ICJ to see if we can get the provisional measures from the court that would put an end to that messing around with our minds."
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