BELIZE CITY, Wed. Oct. 31, 2018– The division inside the Cabinet of Prime Minister Dean Barrow was highlighted once more when at a Cabinet meeting yesterday, Tuesday, an initiative that was advanced by Minister of National Security, Hon. John Saldivar, area representative for the Belmopan constituency, was reportedly scrubbed.
There has been no government statement or press release explaining why Saldivar’s Sarstoon Excursion initiative hit the dust bin.
Last week, the Ministry of National Security boldly announced via social media that it was planning a number of excursions for Belizeans to visit the Sarstoon River and Sarstoon Island. The trips were billed as familiarization tours, reportedly to give Belizeans a first-hand account of what is happening in the Sarstoon area.
The trips would involve ferrying a targeted 30 passengers, per trip, as far as the border marker at Gracias a Dios, after which passengers would be ferried back to the Barranco Village pier, in the Toledo District, where the trip originated. The excursion was supposed to include a trip down the Sarstoon River, passing the BDF Forward Operating Base (FOB), where on the other side, the Guatemalan Armed Forces has a base overlooking the BDF base, from where they harass Belizean citizens who wish to traverse what they consider their side of the river, which is in Belizean territory.
At his press conference on Monday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow was asked about Saldivar’s Sarstoon excursion, and Barrow said that the matter had not been presented to Cabinet as yet.
“ That hasn’t come to Cabinet, and so I am not too sure that we are of air with all the details. If the Minister has announced a guided tour, I am sure he absolutely knows what he’s about, but I would withhold comment until Cabinet can talk about this tomorrow,” PM Barrow said.
Barrow was reminded that this was a matter of national security, and so he added, “No doubt, but I haven’t chaired a meeting of the National Security Council for a while because I haven’t been here. We’re having one, I think, next week. But National Security Council apart, the Cabinet surely will want to know what’s up with this notion, what the details are and so there will without a doubt be a discussion tomorrow.”
When we spoke to the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of National Security, the retired Belize Defence Force Colonel, George Lovell, he explained that the trips would have been carried out like any other excursion: you pay your money and go.
Lovell stressed that the trips would have been conducted by the Belize Coast Guard and the Belize Defence Force.
In answer to a question about whether or not the excursions were designed to assist the government in its International Court of Justice (ICJ) referendum scheduled for next April 10, Lovell admitted that the trips were designed to assist with the ICJ education campaign.
It was surprising that the Ministry of National Security would come up with the idea for such a trip, in light of the fact that the Belize Government has failed in its effort to work out a protocol with Guatemala for Belizeans safely traversing the Sarstoon River, on which the Guatemalan Armed Forces (GAF) has been exercising de-facto control since 2015.
In April 2016, the Barrow government became so daunted by the GAF presence on the Sarstoon, that it passed a Statutory Instrument making it illegal for the Belize Territorial Volunteers to embark on an excursion to the Sarstoon, headed by nationalist Wil Maheia, to celebrate the anniversary of the 1859 Anglo-Guatemalan border treaty. The BDF and Coast Guard intercepted persons on the trip at the Barranco Village pier and turned them back. That Statutory Instrument was for a period of one month.
Between then and now, nothing has changed, as far as Guatemala’s military posture on the Sarstoon River is concerned, notwithstanding Lovell’s assertion: that “a lot has changed.”
From all appearances, Belizean authorities have come up with their own protocol for Belizeans traveling on the Sarstoon River. The procedure is to check in with the BDF, who are stationed at the mouth of the river at the Forward Operating Base.
The Ministry of National Security’s Sarstoon excursions apparently were conceptualized during the absence of Prime Minister Dean Barrow, when Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Patrick Faber, was at the helm of the government.
It is doubtful, therefore, that the Ministry of National Security’s Sarstoon excursion initiative was discussed at the Cabinet meetings that were chaired by Deputy PM, Hon. Faber, who was acting as prime minister.
Why? Because Minister of National Security, John Saldivar, was reportedly absent from several Cabinet meetings that were chaired by Faber during the the Prime Minister’s absence.
Faber and Saldivar are the two persons who are aspiring to lead the United Democratic Party when Hon. Dean Barrow demits office, and that race appears to have gotten more complicated with the reported interest of Attorney General and former Speaker of the House, Senator Michael Peyrefitte, in entering the UDP leadership race.
We attempted to get a comment from Cabinet Secretary Carlos Perdomo as to whether the initiative had really been put aside by Cabinet, but we were given the runaround. Perdomo explained that he was unable to discuss what was decided in Cabinet, and advised us to speak to the Ministry of National Security.
We spoke with Colonel George Lovell, who advised us to speak with Colonel Felix Enriquez, because he (Lovell) was responsible for the Police Department.