BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Apr. 25, 2019– Prime Minister Dean Barrow has set Wednesday, May 8, as the new date for a referendum in which Belizeans will indicate at the polls, with a yes or no answer, whether they support taking the Guatemalan claim to Belizean territory to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for adjudication, but in the area of the Sarstoon River, the Guatemalan Armed Forces (GAF) have been quietly stepping up their aggression with continued assaults on the territorial integrity of Belize.

Just last week, the GAF blocked a Belize Coast Guard boat and a civilian boat with Belizeans from the diaspora who were visiting the Sarstoon. The Ministry of National Security had said that the government would send “a strong diplomatic protest” regarding the incident.

There is no telling what form that so-called strong diplomatic protest has taken, but to be certain, even if it was done, it hasn’t had any effect on the GAF, which continues their aggression and assault on Belize.

Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV) leader, Wil Maheia, whom the Minister of National Security found it necessary to blame for the GAF intrusion into Belizean territorial waters last week, was today prevented from accessing the Sarstoon River.

Maheia told us that he headed out from Punta Gorda this morning on a trip to the Sarstoon River with four other persons in his boat and as they were beginning to make their approach to the mouth of the river, they observed that the GAF had positioned a large gunboat near the river’s mouth. Maheia told us that in the distance they could see the Belize Forward Operating Base (FOB), but the massive GAF gunboat, which he said was parked on the northern side of the river, was between his boat and the FOB.

With the Belize Defence Force and the Belize Coast Guard at their FOB, Maheia told us that he did not want to take the chance of continuing toward the entrance of the river out of fear for his safety and that of his passengers. Maheia said two GAF boats, and the large gunboat, had positioned themselves so that they were able to intercept any traffic on the water that was heading toward the mouth of the river and toward the Belize FOB. Maheia said he decided to turn back and not risk the safety of himself and his passengers.

Maheia explained that the three GAF boats were literally blocking the entrance to the channel.

“I could tell you right now that the mouth of the Sarstoon River is completely blocked from Belizeans,” Maheia said.

In a telephone interview this afternoon, we asked the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of National Security, retired BDF Colonel, George Lovell, if his ministry was aware of the latest incident involving the GAF in the area of the Sarstoon River.

Lovell told us that he had heard something about a boat that was approaching the FOB, but his report was that the boat, which was flying the Belizean flag, had turned around and headed back to Belize.

“The vessel was seen by the Coast Guard and by the time they went to investigate, the vessel had left,” Lovell said.

We suggested to Lovell that the GAF gunboat was inside Belize’s territorial waters.

Lovell, however, said that the area that we control is not from our shoreline base all the way to Guatemala. There is an area that is controlled by Guatemala and Honduras.

Lovell explained that a vessel on the northern side of the river would be in Belizean territory, but a vessel on the southern side would not be in Belizean territory.

Lovell said that Maheia should not have turned back.

We responded to Lovell that last week his minister had blamed Maheia for the GAF behavior on the river, and maybe that’s why he decided to not proceed.

We asked Lovell to comment on the incident last week involving the GAF and a Belize Coast Guard boat and Wil Maheia’s boat.

Lovell assured us that a diplomatic protest note was dispatched to Guatemala at the highest level.

“There was a strong protest at the Prime Minister’s level,” Lovell confirmed.

We mentioned to Lovell that maybe that “strong diplomatic protest note” that the government sent had no deterrent effect.

 Lovell disputed our assertion, saying that there is no proof that the GAF had stepped up their aggression with re-enforcements.

“I don’t know if that is precisely so. There are large gunboats that go into the area from time to time,” Lovell countered.

Lovell insisted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had sent a protest note to the Guatemalan authorities and that Belize’s military had also dispatched a protest note regarding last week’s incident on the Sarstoon River.

Lovell told us that the follow up from the Belize diplomatic protest note is that there will be a meeting between Belizean officials and Guatemalans in the near future.