Following the incident, there was some expectation that the government would host an immediate press conference to at least express top-level outrage. That hasn’t happened. In fact, the only thing that has happened is the issuance of a very tepid press release. We’ve tried getting a comment from Prime Minister Dean Barrow, and he has refused. So today, we went looking for Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington. He told us that he was part of the team that sent out the release, and as far as he is concerned, the release says it all.
Wilfred Elrington
Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“We had been advising against that kind of adventure largely because we knew the danger that is inherent in doing that kind of thing. We understand that people have freedom to move all over the place, all over the country, but certainly in my case I see it just like when you have a hurricane coming and you advise people living in the low-lying areas to move out because you may get hurt – some choose to do it and some choose not to do it. Those who choose not to do it sometimes find themselves in the middle of the storm being overtaken by the storm or the flood and then they call for help. When they do that they put the rescuers in trouble because the rescuers can lose their lives in an attempt to help people who in fact refuse to take warning and move out early. So that is our concern, and border problems are not problems unique to Belize. It happens all over the world and we notice that in some places people die over border conflicts. So we are trying to make sure that does not happen in Belize. Belizeans cross borders everyday you know….when we go to Chetumal we cross the border. When we go to Guatemala we cross the borders but there is this dispute between us and Guatemala. It is a sensitive dispute and we think that the least we can do to aggravate the situation the better and safer our people will be.”
Reporter
“Sir but there is a sentiment that this isn’t about the territorial volunteers per se. There are many people who are looking at what has been established…that when the boat was taken and when the people were taken they were in Belizean waters. So what happens is that the Guatemalan military came into Belizean waters and took Belizeans out of Belizean waters into Guatemala?”
Wilfred Elrington
“If you look at the release that we published we said that it is suggested, and the evidence suggests…but we don’t have any confirmation on any of it. So what we are trying to do is to get confirmation on these things before we take action. There is no line out there that you can see that demarcates the two countries. There’s nothing there. You really have to have good scientific instruments to really know what the position is, and we think it’s certainly irresponsible for us to take hard and fast positions without knowing what the truth is.”
View the full article