The press also took the opportunity to get a comment from the Foreign Minister on the current status of Belize's pending case at the International Court of Justice against Guatemala.
Last year in May, Belizeans took to the polls of a national referendum and voted that the country should go to the ICJ to settle Guatemala's territorial claim.
Last year the Prime Minister warned that country would incur substantial financial expense to retain legal representation. Yesterday, the Foreign Minister said that the lawyers have already been identified. He also disclosed that Guatemala has already identified its ad-hoc judge who they want to sit on the panel, which will preside over the case. Here's what Elrington had to say on both topics:
Reporter
"Have the lawyers been identified?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington - Foreign Affairs Minister
"Yeah, a team of lawyers was put together, and I think contracts were entered into by them. But, the people who can give you the details on that again would be Assad Shoman and Alexis Rosado."
"The Guatemalans have appointed their judge because they have a chance to nominate somebody to be the judge. Both countries will have an opportunity to nominate a judge on the bench that will sit to hear the case, and the Guatemalans have identified someone. They notified us about that some time ago, but to get the precise details on that, I refer you to Mr. Shoman."
According to the Foreign Minister, Guatemala has a few more months to file its completed claim at the ICJ for presentations in June of this year.
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