A report from Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre, dated yesterday, Wednesday, January 27, and archived at their Internet website, claims that Guatemalans in two communities near the Sarstoon River on the Guatemalan side of the southern border are accusing soldiers of the Belize Defence Force (BDF) of intimidation of villagers and “incursions” into their territory for the last two years, and asking the Guatemalan Government to do something about it.
In the report, Prensa Libre quotes villagers of the Sarstun Abajo and La Finca villages in Livingston, Department of Izabal, in eastern Guatemala, directly south of the Sarstoon River (Belize’s southern border with Guatemala), as claiming that BDF soldiers have been stealing their canoes, fishing nets and even household goods in daily raids, apparently in defiance of the military installations in the area.
“The Guatemalan farmers who inhabit the adjacency zone (between Guatemala and Belize) said they live in distress due to the fact that the Belizeans enter at any time, they intimidate them, and in some cases, even capture them,” Prensa Libre’s reporter claimed.
According to our sources, any number of top Belizean officials or diplomats have heard of the report, but those few who have knowledge of it either would not comment or were not available today.
Neither National Security Minister Hon. Carlos Perdomo nor Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. Wilfred Elrington was available when we called their respective offices today. The OAS official in charge of the Adjacency Zone office, Miguel Angel Trinidad, did not answer the office phone when we called this evening.
As for the BDF, Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel Ganney Dortch told Amandala tonight that the Prensa Libre report was “completely false,” and that the villagers were just “out to make mischief.”
According to Lt. Col. Dortch: “We have a duty to ensure that we protect our territorial waters… (The BDF) is simply patrolling the border, and they (the Guatemalans) don’t like that.”
He further denied that Belizean soldiers would ever enter Guatemalan territory, citing the reverse, the infamous kidnapping of three BDF soldiers and a policeman, Macedonio Sanchez, in February of 2000, as precedent in speaking with KREM earlier today.
In that incident, the Belizeans had claimed they were on our territory, but the 25-man Guatemalan force that captured them claimed that they had strayed into Guatemala. They were released unharmed after 9 days of much bilateral negotiation.
Both Sarstun Abajo and La Finca, according to the report, are within the 1-kilometer Adjacency Zone created in November of 2000 as a result of that incident, but there is no indication of when exactly either community was established.
It is important, because reliable information from multiple sources to Amandala is that no new communities can be established within the area of the Zone, either along the western or southern border with Guatemala, with effect from the year 2000.
The Guatemalans have claimed that the BDF have allegedly “confiscated 150 craft and (sunk) 50 canoes” in over 2 years, but no mention was made of any fatalities or injuries.
A military source told KREM News today that the problem dates back to November of last year and specifically centers on Sarstun Abajo and the nearby Sarstoon Island.
As it was explained, the island lies in the middle of the Sarstoon River and divides it into two channels. Sarstoon Island is claimed by both Belize and Guatemala, and prior to November, the BDF patrolled both the northern and southern channels until they were dissuaded by their Guatemalan counterparts on November 2.
The Guatemalans set their flag on the north shore of Sarstoon Island that day, only to see it taken down the next day by the BDF. They threatened to raise the flag again and during the Christmas holidays, reports to us say, the Guatemalans, on a visit to the area by OAS ambassador Dr. Raul Largo, repeated their demand that Belize not patrol the southern channel, and the BDF backed down on orders from Belmopan, because “of diplomatic reasons, and to avoid international repercussions,” KREM’s source says.
Last week, the order came to resume patrols, after Belize’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs met with their Guatemalan counterparts.
Answering the allegations about the fishing nets, KREM’s military source said that the BDF have confiscated fishing nets from residents of Sarstun Abajo, but only from those who persist in blanketing the Sarstoon River with the nets in complete defiance of the border and in violation of the law.
Not only is it illegal, he claimed, but it also raises the chance of nets tangling in a boat’s propeller as it moves up the channel and causing an unnecessary accident.
We note that Prensa Libre’s reporter has not bothered to contact any Belizean official to verify its claims. Amandala will continue to follow this story.
(KREM News’ Marisol Amaya and Deseree Cain contributed to this report.)