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Here are a few choice comments that both Brackett and Marin had for the Government about what they think is the adequate response to the encroachment:

Geovanni Brackett, Activist
"What we have seen these people have not been able to produce any title. It is a very serious issue and this now is affecting an individual owner but it has become a national issue. We've been told that further down there are more incidents such as these. It also tells us that the Government needs to do better in terms of how they are taking care the Belizean territory along the borderline. What is alarming here is that it appears that the one kilometer direction in either country that suppose to form the adjacency zone from what I thought when that was established so that nothing was to be built in that area because it is disputed territory. However we have seen clearly that these Guatemalans are building structures and permanent structures, having light and running water. So their government is promoting this and our government should do its best to protest these actions. To be calling Mr. Espat impatient, he is not impatient. His family has owned this property for three generations. And every time an election goes on in Guatemalan there are pressures such as these because politicians are giving away land in our territory and that's why I am here, that's why I believe Nancy will explain why she is here to give support because it's a national issue."

Nefretery Nancy Marin, Politician/Activist
"We stand firmly with Mr. Espat and with any other Belizean that will be suffering this. We have other Belizeans that own land on this side of the border. We don't know yet if they are suffering the same. We have to look into that and figure out. For sure he cannot stand alone. So I make a call to every Belizean and say that this is not just Mr. Espat being violated; Belizeans are being violated and we should take very personally and we should bring that to the government. Belizeans need to put pressure on the government and on the O.A.S., send letters, send notes, write to them, call them and tell them something because if we sit, like Mr. Espat said, like sitting ducks today is Mr. Espat. Tomorrow I might be any of us that live by the borderline."

There is a specific protocol that has been set out in the Confidence Building Measures to deal with this type of encroachment.

The Confidence Building Measures reads, quote, "Stage 1: Settlers/settlements which are discovered in the Adjacency Zone shall be reported to the relevant authorities in Belize and Guatemala and to the Office of the General Secretariat of the OAS in the Adjacency Zone.

Stage 2: The respective Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall proceed to notify the Embassy of the other State as well as the Office of the General Secretariat of the OAS in the Adjacency Zone, and shall request joint verification of the existence, location, and status of the settlement…

Stage 4: Within seven days of the on?site visit, the Office of the General Secretariat of the OAS in the Adjacency Zone shall deliver the results of the verification exercise to the Parties. The settlers shall then be notified of the results of the verification exercise by the relevant Party, accompanied by a representative of the General Secretariat of the OAS and will be allowed a period of seven days to voluntarily relocate. Upon the expiration of the seven day period, the settlers shall be subject to legal proceedings by a competent tribunal."

End quote. It is unclear to us at this time which stage the two governments are currently at with this particular settlement.