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The other crazies

FeaturesThe other crazies

Former government minister, Hector Silva, says any Belizean who says YES to the special agreement is CRAZY, and present government minister, Sedi Elrington, says that any Belizean who votes NO to the special agreement is CRAZY.

Anyone who didn’t know it knows now that this is a highly charged issue. “Crazy” is amadabig fighting word. Women can usually get away with saying what they want to men, but a man who calls another man, liar, or crazy, is living in dangerous territory. Well, that’s how it was in the world of men, before words lost their punch in some circles. Ah, in some circles things haven’t changed. But in some circles, and maybe the thanks/ censure goes to lawyers, it never goes beyond heated air.

Hector Silva says that any person who will give a court the right to give their territory to another country is cuckoo. He says this has never happened before in this world. Sedi Elrington says that only a raging idiot could study our case and fail to see the opportunity here to rid ourselves of this menacing Guatemalan claim.

There are countries that have agreed/desired to become parts of other countries. The United States began with 13 colonies. Many states gave up country-hood to become a part of the United States. Puerto Rico has a lobby to become a full member state of the USA.The countries in Central America, except for Belize, decided to give up their individuality and become one nation in 1821. Singapore became a part of Malaysia in 1963.Legislatures in these states/countries debated, took sides, before a majority vote decided on a merger, assimilation.

But our “ICJ” decision is a very different story. NEITHER side (no one in Belize) wants to become a part of Guatemala. We noh want dem.

Sefe played ranchera

Mr. Edison Coleman, who was also known as Sefe, and other names which he called himself, was the biggest star on Radio Belize, our country’s “only” radio station for many, many years. Sefe absolutely ruled the air waves in the 1960s and 1970s.

He was most famous for his morning show, which might have been called, Wake up and Work. In the years leading up to independence in 1981, George Price, our country’s leader, dominated the political landscape, and Radio Belize was his ace tool. Price, who was also an artist, wrote a poem, an epic, in which he called on all Belizeans to build their “new nation”. Sefe had the job to rouse the nation from slumber every morning.

Sefe took a rooster to Radio Belize every morning, to crow and wake up Belizeans so dehn get up and get to work. (okay, I’m not sure the rooster was flesh and feather) I remember the music he played in the mornings was upbeat, not a dirge, like how George Price said some philistines sing the National Anthem. Sefe was an artist, and his territory was the comedic. He was a fantastic wit, had a wicked sense of humor, like Steve Anthony, so it was a rollicking time every morning. In those days women were mostly at home, so they were the ones who got the best of Sefe.

Sefe was a highly anticipated act during the annual September celebrations at the Memorial Park. He loved playing the clown, and for a time he was the only man on that island in Belize. Wait, we still have only one clown, Ozzie (Javier Canul). Maybe there is space for only one clown at a time in Belize. We’ve always had a lot of comedic talent, but only one stage. Sefe, outrageously, once pranced across the stage at Memorial Park¯- eenawahnbaybidiapa. I’ve always been reclusive, so I wasn’t at the show. But I heard the laughter because I was listening in.

His morning show and his theater are the things most people remember, but for some in my generation, we remember his evening show especially. If you like a little drink, you’ll know what I mean. Sefe must have had the melancholia, because his evening sounds were heart wrenchers. Those of us who don’t speak Spanish as our first language have Sefe to thank for our introduction (and subsequent seduction) to the songs of the broken hearted rancheras so loved by borachos, and other soulful people.

My late uncle, Roy Straughan (husband of my late paternal aunt, Chrystel Hyde Straughan), was a bandmaster, and I believe a number of the records in my aunt’s collection were his. I am pretty certain the Los Angeles Negros record I loved listening to, was his, and maybe the Nat King Cole album (Cole Español) too. But the first place I heard those songs was Sefe’s evening show on Radio Belize.

Orellana Portillo said Reichler betrayed them

Gustavo Adolfo Orellana Portillo was (is?) a member of the Belize Commission (Guatemalan foreign office), and the paper the excerpts below was taken from was prepared to explain the genesis of the 2008 special agreement between Belize and Guatemala. Orellana Portillo explained that that document was a “personal stance on the Territorial Dispute betweenGuatemala and Belize”, that the document did not “reflect the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or that of the Guatemalan Government.”

These notes are taken from Orellana Portillo’s explanation for Guatemala’s rejection of the Ramphal/Reichler Proposals of 2002. Orellana Portillo said that their facilitator, Paul Reichler, well, he betrayed them.

“The Facilitator that was appointed by the Government of Guatemala adapted his position to the one sustained by the Government of Belize and the outcome was a series of recommendations that basically suggested maintaining status quo over the territory held by Belize; consequently, the unacceptable proposals for the Government of Guatemala were rejected.”

He further explains: “It was clearly understood that although Facilitators were appointed one by each State, they would not function as agents, lawyers or defense counsel of the appointing State, but would listen and receive reports, viewpoints or documents that each Party wished would be taken into account, and together would perform the assessments, studies and pertinent considerations to be able to, without one imposing its criteria upon the other, propose equitable formulae of solution. Therefore, the performance of the Facilitators should have been receptive and impartial at all times, and they should have sought that each Party would yield reasonably in some aspects of their initial stance, disposing of rigid or inflexible positions.

“While analyzing the Facilitators’ Proposals included in the document dated 30th August 2002, it becomes evident that they are incongruous with the terms of reference and the objectives of the facilitation. Far from being true proposals of reasonable and equitable agreement, they embrace Belize’s approach only, accepting the inflexible position displayed by this State in its written presentation of 30th April 2001, stating that ‘In advance, Belize puts forward that the possession over its territory is not to be surrendered’…

“They propose setting the land boundary that Belize has always pretended, applying in a veiled fashion the treaty of 30th April 1859 entered into by Guatemala and Great Britain, whose validity has been rejected by Guatemala in repeated occasions.”

Orellana Portillo said negotiations no go without land

Orellana Portillo said they want land. He wrote: “…it is easy to assess that Guatemala’s claim relative to the unlawfully held territory by Belize is a matter of sovereignty and that, therefore, would constitute a transgression to the Guatemalan Constitution to accept as conciliatory settlement a total relinquishment of Guatemala’s rights regarding the claimed territory. (This is what the Facilitators’ proposals imply as they do not include any restoration whatsoever of any portion of continental territory unlawfully held by Belize). Such “settlement” would violate the territorial integrity of the State of Guatemala, would obviously not be in agreement with national interests, and would be null and void ipso jure, originating unavoidable legal responsibilities upon the public officials who would approve it.”

If that is Guatemala’s stance we have to ask why all these years of negotiations. Clearly their engaging us at the negotiation table was pretense, playing along so that they could get time to clean up their image in the world.

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