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ICJ STATS – Where the hell is Belize?

GeneralICJ STATS - Where the hell is Belize?
“…the district of Punta Gorda?”
 
Those of us Belizeans who traveled abroad when Belize was not yet a major tourist attraction often got this response when talking about our beloved homeland: “Where the hell is Belize?” Our answer has always been something to the effect that we are a beautiful, peaceful, pristine tropical country, bounded to the north by Mexico and south and west by Guatemala, and that we sit on the east coast of Central America. In our minds, the territory of Belize has always been unambiguously defined – all 8,867 square miles of it. We’ve always asserted our sovereignty, even in the face of claims by Guatemala that our territory belongs to it.
 
Twenty-seven years after our independence, Belizeans must now grapple with the fact that England had left this nation with unresolved border treaties with both our neighbors: Guatemala and Mexico. While talks to resolve what are described as cartographic and technical “glitches” in the treaty with Mexico (1898) are described as amicable, there has been much more contention around table with Guatemala over the 1859 boundary treaty.
 
The only solution to the problem, government officials claim, is to go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, and let that court make a formal proclamation on where our respective borders lie.
 
Last Friday the Organization of American States (OAS), which had been facilitating negotiations between Belize and Guatemala, issued a press release regarding the removal of the Jalacte bodega (or storage facility) owned by Guatemalan Leonel Arellanos.
 
Note that the English version of the document came to our newsroom a whole day after the release of the Spanish version. When Belize and Guatemala signed the ICJ special agreement last December in Washington, DC, the OAS held all proceedings in Spanish, and provided no translations, despite the fact that there were Caribbean diplomats attending the event. Is there a disregard for those of us who are native speakers of other languages? Why should the information not be made available simultaneously in the English and Spanish?
 
For us in Belize language is very important, not just the words that are used, but how they are used to convey a message – whether it be hidden or direct.
 
We’ve carefully studied the language in the OAS’s most recent release, and find some statements that underscore the fact that our borders, enshrined by our Constitution, have, in effect, been erased and replaced by a dubious “adjacency line,” under the agreement penned back in 2005.
 
Note this: The first paragraph of the release gives the location of the bodega, verified four times by the OAS, as “the adjacent zone.” Even though it has been clear to all of us that the bodega was inside Belize, the OAS release describes its location as the territory that lies “between” Santa Cruz, Guatemala, and Jalacte, which the OAS release says is “in the district of Punta Gorda,” Belize. Yes readers, the district of Punta Gorda, not Toledo as we know it to be. Sincerely, we hope this is just an error on the part of the author of the release, but we will not assume that it is, and we believe that there is no excuse for such a mistake in such a widely circulated document, given the fact that the parties are dealing with a dispute over territory.
 
The second paragraph of the release goes on to talk about a set of “confidence building measures” adopted by Belize and Guatemala way back in September 2005, and signed for Belize by Assad Shoman.
 
Under the Confidence Building Measures of 2005, new structures should not be built within the zone one kilometer east of the so-called adjacency line (which is really Belize’s border with Guatemala) nor one kilometer west of it. If they are, they are to be removed according to a specified protocol that gives the offender 7 days to voluntarily correct his or her wrong, after which, “…the settlers shall be subject to legal proceedings by a competent tribunal.”
 
It is clear that this tribunal procedure was not invoked in the Jalacte case, even when official reports surfaced that the owner of the bodega, Leonel Arellanos, had threatened Belize security forces with a gun.
 
Under these CBM’s, the premise under which the OAS removed the bodega was not that it was in Belizean territory, but because it was built in the so-called “adjacent” zone, formerly referred to as the “adjacency” zone. The CBM’s, in fact, don’t recognize Belize’s borders.
 
According to the same OAS press release, the storage container or bodega, which stood for over two months illegally perched atop a hill on Belizean soil, was located on territory which it says is “administered by Belize.” (It is significant that the OAS, which falls within the United Nations system, does not describe the territory as Belizean land.)
 
Wasn’t it the United Nations which in the years leading up to Independence, proclaimed repeatedly that the people of Belize should be allowed to move into independence with their territory intact, from the Rio Hondo to the Sarstoon, from the Caribbean Sea to our westernmost border?
 
The expressions of doubt over who owns the land is most notable in the latest OAS press release, particularly in light of the assertion that Jalacte is located “in the district of Punta Gorda.”
 
The 2005 agreement does not acknowledge Belize’s border, but speaks of an “adjacency line” – facilitating both the Belize and Guatemala position. Clause D (1) of the agreement says that the agreement “shall not constitute a total or partial waiver of sovereignty over any territory….claimed by either party; nor shall any rights of either party to such territory be prejudiced.”
 
Clause D (6) furthermore states that the recognition of the so-called “adjacency line does not constitute an agreement by the parties that such line represents the international boundary between Belize and Guatemala.”
 
The fact of the matter is, Belize has signed onto an agreement that does not recognize its borders, enshrined in its Constitution. But the carefully crafted document also does not deny that such a border exists.
 
Last year Belize government officials told the media that the agreement was crafted that way because Guatemalans are forbidden to refer to a borderline between Belize and Guatemala. It is great that the Guatemalans know their position and are willing to hold their line, but what about us? Has any Belizean questioned the constitutionality of the whole OAS negotiation process, and the agreements that have emanated out of that process? As we speak, the Guatemalans are putting the matter to a rigorous test through their constitutional committee of Congress, and our reports are that they will be asking their constitutional court to say whether or not the December 2008 compromis passes their litmus test.
 
Belizeans have been doing a lot of talking in public forums and on the airwaves, while the Guatemalans have been far more reserved, but aggressive at the political level in studying the document. The ICJ proposal is not child’s play: it is serious business and must be treated as such.
 
At one point in the negotiations, Belizean officials were asking the Guatemalans: What can we do for you to drop your claim? Yes, we desire good neighborliness and peace with Guatemala, but it is not our responsibility to do what pleases Guatemala. For sure, Belizeans are not anti-Guatemalan, but there are still some of us who want our land preserved for generations to come.
 
It is now time for you to do your own review of the material we have provided in this series (ICJ Stats), as well as everything the Government is providing. Arm yourself with information. Pay keen attention not only to the distractions on the border, but to what is happening to the west of that border. Then find a quiet space to reflect and ask yourself, What would Goldson do?

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