And while those optimistic remarks got support from the other side of the floor - there was a little friction over how far Belizeans should go to assert eminent domain over our territorial waters.
Courtenay said its should be a national imperative to be territorial about our waters - while UDP Senator Peyrefitte urged caution:
Hon. Eamon Courtney- PUP Senator
"What we on this side call for is a living of our sovereignty when we make absolutely clear that our territorial sea goes to the median line it requires all state apparatus, all state functionaries, the coast guard, the maritime wing of the Belize Defence Force to the extent that it still exist, civil society - all Belizean to act in a sovereign way, to operate as if that is ours and it has always been ours. We must signal to the world that all of that maritime area belongs to Belize and we have got to live and operate as if its ours."
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte, UDP Senator
"If there is one diversion from Senator Courtenay's passionate tough talk about defending the territory, we also have to remind ourselves that we want to live in peace and we're a peaceful nation. Sure, we would defend our territory to the bitter end, but at the same time we are not going to engage in any behavior that would provoke any kind of animosity when we know that we have in, just a few years, the best possible chance to have Guatemala be forced to behave itself, because we can talk tough all we want in the senate until we placed ourselves in the positions of those soldiers, those coast guard people, those people who defend and if we are prepared to go on the frontline and pick up a weapon and die ourselves, then we need to be very careful when we talk about oh we want to defend it to the bitter end, because in a war some of our people would die too and that we cannot afford to have on our hands. Nobody wants a confrontation in the Sarstoon. Nobody wants a confrontation anywhere and that is why we continue to work on the Sarstoon protocol. We have not given up on that. We still believe that with the presence of Southcom the other day and all other people coming in from the European Union, the US trying to make sure that we solve this matter in the courts, we still hope to get Guatemala around the table and we still hope to have the 2 nations sign a Sarstoon protocol."
Email
Print