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"Let's not panic." But shouldn't we at least protest?

And at the end of last month, when Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca took the stage at the UN General Assembly, many expected that his speech would address the recent issues at the Sarstoon, like the speeches of his predecessors. But while he spoke about global issues, such as the bombardment of Palestine and the US embargo on Cuba, he didn't even mention Guatemalan aggression on the Sarstoon and call for the establishment of a protocol. Today we asked him the reasoning behind that decision.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I think, listen, we have always made that point about the Sarstoon, so in discussions with Guatemala, even a few a weeks before the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister led a delegation to Guatemala, one of the key areas of discussion was border security, the Sarstoon, so we discussed that, we talked directly to the President of Guatemala, to the Foreign Minister of Guatemala, to the Defense Minister of Guatemala, we discussed the extensively. So there's no question about our concern about that issue and our commitment to finding a resolution. But for me, and it was my decision, on the global stage I wanted Belize to send a very clear message to the world about the positive relationships, the relationship that we are trying to build with our neighbors at a time when there is so much division in the world, when there's so much conflict taking place in many different parts of the world. Many people have said to us the way that Belize and Guatemala is approaching this issue, trying to find a peaceful, lasting resolution to this matter, is an example to the rest of the world and so I wanted to highlight that positive aspect of our relationship, how we are working together, trying to work together, not only to resolve this unfounded claim to Belize but also to develop stronger trade relations, stronger cooperation agreements so there's no question about Belize firm position in terms of our territorial integrity, our sovereignty and our absolute confidence in terms of our ownership of a part of the Sarstoon river so yes people will always complain when you don't go and beat your chest and all of these things but we are very confident in our position and like I said I wanted to use this opportunity to highlight the model that we believe Belize is showing to the rest of the world and even where you have these differences as neighbors, you could work together to address them."