<p><strong><a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FOB-4.jpg"><imgclass="alignleft size-medium wp-image-116277" title="FOB 4" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FOB-4-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></a>There have been two notable incidents in very recent months – first the capture of thirty-seven Belizeans in Belizean territorial waters by Guatemalan military, and then the altercation between Guatemalan soldiers and Belize’s Coast Guard. In the first, the Belizeans were taken against their will to Livingston, Guatemala, while in the second Coast Guard personnel were faced with superior, armed forces and ordered off land which is in Belizean territory. One could say, with some justification, that those were acts of aggression, but Foreign Minister Elrington has a different position on the matter. He told News Five that the incidents he is aware of were caused not by Guatemalans, but by Belizeans.</strong></p>
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<div id="attachment_116278" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width:160px;"><a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FOB-4-00011.jpg"><imgclass="size-thumbnail wp-image-116278" title="Wilfred Elrington" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FOB-4-00011-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Wilfred Elrington</p></div>
<p><strong>Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs</strong></p>
<p><em>“That is not my knowledge of it, and I can tell you that of all of you, I perhaps have more knowledge than all of you…simply by virtue of the fact that I am older than all of you. So I have lived through this experience. I have lived through it certainly from the fifties up to the present time. It is not my understanding that there was any aggression taking place in the Sarstoon area. That’s not my understanding at all. I don’t know who in the Coast Guard could have told you that. That is not our understanding. I can tell you though that in 2000, 2002…on the Western border Guatemalans were alleged to have actually come across and taken some eight of our soldiers. Also too, during that same period, you had them actually coming across and establishing settlements. All those actions have been reversed over the years to the point now where today we have joint patrols almost with them, we link up…we work very closely with the authorities so that there is no indication that there is an increase in hostility or even activity by those people. What I know has happened is that in the past two or three years we have had some Belizeans hailing from Orange Walk and hailing from Punta Gorda who have suddenly decided that they want to go and find the boundaries and clear the boundaries and so this has in fact given rise to this kind of news now relating to Guatemala and the border, but outside of their activity I know of no similar activity on the part of the Guatemalans. I know of none. I don’t know if you have data indicating any of these. I don’t know if the people in the Coast Guard have data showing any of this. I don’t know. It has not come to my attention. What I do know is that Belizeans have been declaring that they want to clear the border and plant trees along the border and that has given rise to some incidents but outside of that I am not aware.”</em></p>
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<div id="attachment_116278" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width:160px;"><a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FOB-4-00011.jpg"><imgclass="size-thumbnail wp-image-116278" title="Wilfred Elrington" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FOB-4-00011-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Wilfred Elrington</p></div>
<p><strong>Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs</strong></p>
<p><em>“That is not my knowledge of it, and I can tell you that of all of you, I perhaps have more knowledge than all of you…simply by virtue of the fact that I am older than all of you. So I have lived through this experience. I have lived through it certainly from the fifties up to the present time. It is not my understanding that there was any aggression taking place in the Sarstoon area. That’s not my understanding at all. I don’t know who in the Coast Guard could have told you that. That is not our understanding. I can tell you though that in 2000, 2002…on the Western border Guatemalans were alleged to have actually come across and taken some eight of our soldiers. Also too, during that same period, you had them actually coming across and establishing settlements. All those actions have been reversed over the years to the point now where today we have joint patrols almost with them, we link up…we work very closely with the authorities so that there is no indication that there is an increase in hostility or even activity by those people. What I know has happened is that in the past two or three years we have had some Belizeans hailing from Orange Walk and hailing from Punta Gorda who have suddenly decided that they want to go and find the boundaries and clear the boundaries and so this has in fact given rise to this kind of news now relating to Guatemala and the border, but outside of their activity I know of no similar activity on the part of the Guatemalans. I know of none. I don’t know if you have data indicating any of these. I don’t know if the people in the Coast Guard have data showing any of this. I don’t know. It has not come to my attention. What I do know is that Belizeans have been declaring that they want to clear the border and plant trees along the border and that has given rise to some incidents but outside of that I am not aware.”</em></p>
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