And another key element in Belize - US relations is immigration. Unlike other Central American nations, there is no caravan of Belizeans heading north to the United States.
In fact, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras top the list of countries with the most illegal immigrants intercepted at the US southern border. They are running from poverty, violence and climate change, by the tens of thousands.
And, the US is now trying to stop those refugees before they reach that southern border. And that's why the superpower has signed what are called "Safe Third Country" agreements with Guatemala and Salvador.
Those agreements require migrants on their way to the US to seek protections in those countries first, stopping them before they reach the American asylum system. And, as the US pushes those immigrants away from its border, we wondered - would they try to push them into Belize - even though this country only has a few dozen illegal immigrants intercepted annually? That's what we asked the Minister of state with responsibility for immigration on Friday:
Reporter
"We see the US has signed safe third country agreements with Guatemala and now El Salvador. Is Belize being approached for any such safe third country agreement?"
Hon. Beverly Williams, Minister of State, Immigration
"We were approached for safe third country in 2017, but Belize did not agree based on some of the conditions, some of what was done - how those persons were going to be determined or interviewed and the criteria to determine whether they are actually refugees. When you look at the 1951 convention, it is that we could not have returned those persons and if you feel that they are at risk or they are asylum seekers why not seek asylum in your country and then you return them. They would have been left in our country and then we can't put you out of our country. So we would be flooding our country without a plan prepared to deal with that. I believe that Belize has demonstrated its commitment to refugees in the 1980s when we had the advent of Salvapan, Armenia, Valley of Peace, St. Matthews - all those. So Belize is committed to the refugee cause, but we have to recognize that there is indeed a crisis and we have to have a structured approached in doing that."
Notably, in May of this year, US Border Patrol agents assigned to the Presidio Station apprehended 98 illegal aliens from El Salvador, Honduras and Belize. Children were in the large group.
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