Prime Minister's Statement on the Territorial Volunteer’s Visit to the Sarstoon Island
Prime Minister’s Press Conference Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel August 19, 2015
I have just finished chairing another meeting of the National Security Council of Belize, and am joined in this afternoon's press conference by members of the NSC. Our meeting, like the one we had on Friday and like the one we had by teleconference 3 days ago, was dedicated solely to the matter of sovereignty relating to the Sarstoon River, and Sunday's visit by the Territorial Volunteers to the Sarstoon Island. Cabinet yesterday also spent a great deal of time seeking to address this issue. After all that, I now come before the media and the public to set out the considered position of the Government of Belize.
I begin by speaking to our sense of what happened on Sunday. And for this I was forced to rely, in the first instance, on the reports of the OAS as relayed to me during the course of events. Now I make clear that I never spoke personally to Magdalena Talamas, the OAS chief observer present on the river in a Belizean boat as things were unfolding. She was in almost continuous communication with our Ambassador Stuart Leslie, though. And he was the one tasked with keeping me apprised. That meant the version given to me was second hand at best, and contained what had to be limited, and for me unverifiable, information.
Ms. Talamas has, however, now produced a written report, which I received only a short time before this press conference. I expect, in due course, to make at least a summary of that report available to the Belizean people. But, as related to me by Ambassador Leslie and now confirmed by Ms. Talamas' written briefing, four of the Territorial Volunteer boats made it through to the Sarstoon Island, and circled the island. They entered the River by the north channel and exited by the south channel. At least one other, the bigger boat was prevented by the Guatemalan Navy vessel from attempting to do the same thing.
The question that at once arises is whether those four boats that transited the two channels at any point went over into what we consider the Guatemalan side of the river, and whether at any point the Guatemalan Navy came over into our, Belizean side of the river. The OAS reports that even the four small Belizean boats were at first intercepted by the Guatemalans before they were able to proceed towards the island. And both that temporary interception of the small boats and the permanent interception of the bigger boat took place, as I understand Ms. Talamas, at the mouth of the Sarstoon River. It is my belief that what the OAS describes as the mouth of the Sarstoon River, is clearly in Belizean waters, and that the Guatemalan Navy committed an incursion when they intercepted our boats at that spot. The Territorial Volunteers, and the Belizean media, confirm the fact of this incursion, and General Jones and Admiral Borland-after viewing video footage-fully concur.
Now whether our four Volunteer boats also went into Guatemala during the course of entering, circling and exiting the area of the island, must remain unanswered for now. The Volunteers say no, and the OAS doesn't say yes. But regardless of what may later be established on that score, the Guatemalan incursion certainly happened first. And any unwitting Belizean entry into Guatemala by unarmed, civilian boats is of a different order completely from the deliberate violation committed against us by a presumably well- armed Guatemalan Navy.
An extremely strong protest note has therefore been prepared by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was approved just now by NSC for immediate dispatch to the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry with a copy to the OAS. Of course, several things arise from all this, including whether our military should have been present and acting as armed escort to the Territorial Volunteers; and whether, since there is talk of another civilian visit to the Sarstoon island, GOB would alter its position and involve the BDF and the Coast Guard in any such second effort.
I say right off that the answer to both questions is an unqualified no. But let me immediately tell you why it is so. Guatemala claims the River Sarstoon not in the same way as it claims other portions of our country. Their position is that what we know to be Belize never included the Sarstoon River, and that our border in that area stopped at the bank of the river on the Belize side. So the entire Sarstoon was always, they argue, part of Guatemalan territory and recognized as belonging to them.
We consider that to be completely wrong, and against both history and geography. We therefore unequivocally maintain that the boundary between the two countries is the midchannel of the River, so acknowledged from time immemorial and stated in the 1859 Treaty. And we accordingly continue to declare that we are sovereign over our half of the Sarstoon River. We say this; we mean this; we will never change this. And as it is with the Sarstoon, so it is with all of Belize: this territory is ours, the entire 8,867 square miles of it.
And our sovereignty over our country, which not only our military but ultimately all of us are prepared to defend to the death, is unalterable, unshakable, immovable. But with respect to the Sarstoon River we don't just lay claim to our sovereignty, we act
upon it. Every Tuesday the Belize Defence Force takes a replacement contingent of soldiers up our side of the Sarstoon River to our military outpost at Cadenas, and brings back down the River the troops being rotated out from Cadenas. In doing this, and consistent with our assertion of sovereignty, we ask neither leave nor license from the Guatemalans.
Indeed our BDF are routinely challenged by the Guatemalans and, as happened just last Tuesday, frequently told to turn back. Our soldiers never retreat and are never deterred by these standoffs. They always complete their mission even when, as also happened last Tuesday, they are threatened by the Guatemalan Navy with the ramming of their boat and/or a firefight. In the circumstances, for anyone to claim that there is a sovereignty vacuum regarding our half of the Sarstoon; or that our troops are anything less than resolute and courageous in maintaining our sovereignty, does an intolerable disservice to the brave men and women of the Belize Defence Force and the Belize Coast Guard.
So the fact is that our security forces protect and defend our Sarstoon River sovereignty on a continuing basis, operationally demonstrated every Tuesday of every week of every year without fail. But, arising no doubt from a lack of information and a great deal of misunderstanding, the Territorial Volunteers came to the opposite, and patently wrong, conclusion. Then, proceeding from this mistaken premise, they decided to show that they could fill what in reality was a non-existent void; that they should assert a sovereignty that, albeit seemingly unknown to them, was already being asserted by those both charged with, and capable of, doing the job: our Belizean military. That is how, as I see it, last Sunday's expedition came about.
Now I want to make clear that I perfectly understand and indeed applaud the sentiment that motivated the Territorial Volunteers. Their decision arose from feelings of patriotism that are not just commendable but inspirational. Nevertheless, theirs was an incomplete grasp of the facts (a situation for which Government is perhaps at least partly to blame). As a result their actions, though well-intended, were wrong. For it cannot be right to insert any Belizean, but especially children, into a situation so fraught with danger. Danger arising both from the presence of the Guatemalan Navy and other conditions, including overcrowded expedition boats. This is especially the case because the Territorial Volunteers' purpose-driven visit, their course of action, was entirely unnecessary to make a point that our security forces make every week.
In all the circumstances, therefore, we remain convinced that Government was right in withholding military accompaniment from the Volunteers. I have already described the tension and volatility inherent in the situation of our active dispute with Guatemala over the Sarstoon River. It gives rise to regular confrontations and standoffs between our military and theirs, which thankfully so far have not erupted into any exchange of fire. That must in some measure be the result of the training and ability as well as the bravery of our troops.
It is also no doubt due to a degree of professionalism on the other side. Fighting forces confronting each other, with both being aware of the potential lethality of escalation, isaltogether different from a situation in which civilians are, or could be, caught in the middle. A wrong, even if unwittingly wrong, move on the part of those inexperienced and untrained, could cause all hell to break loose with disastrous consequences for both civilian and military. The Government of Belize was not this time, and will never be, willing to risk the uncontrollability of such an unstable mix of elements. So Government insists that there is no need for, and no point in, any further Territorial Volunteer journey to the Sarstoon River and island. This is particularly the case because, after Sunday's drama, the Guatemalans will likely be in an even more aggressive mode regarding their Tuesday encounters with the BDF. The sate of tension overall regarding the Sarstoon River and island has undoubtedly been much heightened by these events; and it would now be infinitely more dangerous for the Territorial Volunteers to make a second sortie.
If there is nevertheless a repeat visit against all advice and reason, Government will once more put into play all its diplomatic and non-military resources. We believe doing that, together with the fact that the expedition would again be seen and known to be of a purelycivilian, unarmed character, would be enough to safeguard the Belizean citizens from harmful or disproportionate Guatemalan Navy behavior. Conversely, we are convinced that if our security forces were to provide an armed escort and so militarize the situation, therewould be a quantum increase in the likelihood of a fight, with our civilians caught in the crossfire.
In the circumstances we appeal to the Territorial Volunteers not to return. The point you thought necessary to make, has been made. Your courage and patriotism were on display for all Belize and the world to see. And no one was hurt. Let that be enough now and for the sake of all, but especially the children, do not let us tempt fate a second time.
I earlier said that Government may have had some fault for the inadequacy of information that I think, to some extent, precipitated the Territorial Volunteer action. I hope today might have contributed to some greater understanding of what is being done to assert Belize's Sarstoon River sovereignty. But I would be happy to go into greater detail with the group. I am therefore pleased to have been asked by Mr. Antonio De La Fuente, of the Northern Territorial Volunteers, for a meeting. That meeting takes place tomorrow and, I believe,could help to clarify a number of things for these citizens, whom I once again describe as greatly patriotic Belizeans.
Thank you.