Photo: GAF takes 3rd Belize flag planted on Sarstoon sandbar
BELMOPAN, Tues. Sept. 12, 2023
On Sunday, September 10, at 4:00 a.m., even before the break of dawn, close to 50 Belizeans boarded a bus at Pound Yard in Belize City and headed south to Punta Gorda. Their final destination was Sarstoon Island which some would be seeing for the very first time. In Punta Gorda, the Belize City group joined with other Belizeans (women and girls, boys and men) from other parts of the country. One participant even drove his boat down all the way from Cayo. In five vessels, the group which numbered between 75 and 100 then embarked on their Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV) Sarstoon expedition. The BTV has been making such trips to Sarstoon Island for over 15 years, and the activity has evolved into a flag raising ceremony complete with the singing of the national anthem. Unfortunately, the expeditions continue to be tainted with the aggravation of the Guatemalan Armed Forces (GAF) who try to impede the event from taking place while insisting that the island is Guatemalan territory.
According to firebrand attorney Audrey Matura, this year’s flag raising ceremony proceeded peacefully. They had already erected a flag on the sandbar at the Sarstoon Island when elements of the Guatemalan Armed Forces (GAF) suddenly showed up in two vessels with about 9 soldiers each. BTV Leader Wil Maheia told Amandala that when they returned from circling the island, the flag was gone. A second one that was erected suffered a similar fate, at which time there was the usual back and forth with the GAF who insisted that the Sarstoon Island belongs to Guatemala and that the group was in Guatemalan waters. Among those boldly braving the armed soldiers in the now usual showdown of words was 15-year-old Kristal Melchor, a national team football?? player and Belmopan Comprehensive School student who made the trip with her mother and sister. When the third flag was planted, she eloquently and with conviction delivered a translation for Maheia: “This is the property of Belize. You are in Belizean waters. This flag does not represent Guatemala; it represents us, so this flag stays here, in Belizean territory!” But the Guatemalan military was undaunted and swooped in to haul away the third flag right before the very eyes of the Territorial Volunteers. The GAF were labelled “ladrones” [thieves] but that did not make them stop in their tracks. Onward they went with the Belize flag in their possession. The confiscation of the third flag was also witnessed by elements of the Belize Defence Force that had showed up by then. As is customary on such trips, Belize flags were not in short supply among the Volunteers and Matura, Maheia and Melchor made the courageous move to jump into the waters. They swam onto a fallen log where they stood with the flag and urged the GAF to come for it if they so dared. They did not, and then Matura led a swim to the island to erect the flag among the mangroves. She was joined by Maheia and Allen Nunez.
Maheia has hailed the BDF, saying that they intercepted their Guatemalan counterparts and had a discussion with them, after which the Guatemalans turned over the Belize flags which the BTV collected from the BDF before they left Sarstoon Island. Maheia is convinced that the Guatemalans went back to collect the 4th Belize flag which Nunez had planted some meters into the island. He called on the Government of Belize to protest the incursion of the GAF in Belizean territory as well as the confiscation of their Belize flags.
The Opposition United Democratic Party joined in the call for a protest note to be sent to Guatemala. A release forwarded by the Leader of the Opposition stated, “The Opposition calls on the Briceño Administration to protest the actions of the GAF to the OAS and Group of Friends for immediate intervention. The BTV and all Belizeans – women, children and men should not face intimidation, aggression and harassment by the Guatemalan Armed Forces when traveling to our territory at our Sarstoon Island.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eamon Courtenay subsequently told the media, “Clearly, Guatemalan forces violated our territory this weekend and wrongfully uprooted Belizean flags. The official report is being finalized by the BDF and once in hand, we will lodge a formal protest and demand the return of any flag that is still in their possession.” He also reported that he is set to have a bilateral meeting with Guatemalan Foreign Minister Mario Adolfo Búcaro Flores next week, at which time he intends to protest the action of the GAF “in the strongest possible terms.” He added that Belize insists on the need for a protocol to avoid such incidents in the south but that, so far, Guatemala has refused to agree to such a protocol.
Speaking about the trip, one Belize City elderly resident who took his grandson on the trip said he wanted to go and see for himself what he always hears Maheia talking about. A Belmopan resident remarked of the GAF aggression, “They saw also that we are not scared of them.” Others commented that it was greatly disrespectful that this time, the GAF did not wait until the BTV had left before removing the Belize flags: “They did it in front of our face!” One young participant from Belize City said he was angered when the Guatemalans took the flags, and a repeat young participant from Toledo said he was disappointed that the BDF did not intervene earlier.
Notably, Matura also indicated that Guatemalan fishers still come over to fish illegally in Belizean waters, and they are not stopped by the BDF, which is now occupying the Sarstoon Forward Operating Base again. You may recall they had abandoned the base in July of 2022 after deeming it structurally unsafe. However, the BTV forced their hand when they went to the base and occupied it for a few hours at the beginning of August.
Maheia has expressed gratitude to all those who donated to cover fuel costs for this year’s September 10th trip which reached thousands of dollars. He describes the effort as grassroots and says some contributed from a gallon of fuel and up. He noted that there is also big support from the Diaspora for the BTV trips. This year’s was one of the largest crowds taken by the BTV to the Sarstoon.