The Belize Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Guatemalan military aggression demonstrates “bad faith” by Guatemala after the two countries have made “significant progress” in “moving towards a permanent solution to the long-standing unfounded territorial claim.”

PUNTA GORDA, Thurs. July 25, 2019– The Guatemalan Armed Forces (GAF) has returned to its old posture of aggression against Belizean civilians on the Sarstoon River.

 

On Tuesday, the GAF forced a Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV) and SATIIM mission to Black Creek to turn back after the BDF escort boat developed mechanical difficulties, according to the Ministry of National Security.

Today, Thursday, the Belize Ministry of National Security issued a press release in which it claimed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is lodging a “strong protest” to the Government of Guatemala, regarding the moves by the GAF to bolster their military presence on the Sarstoon River.

Guatemala’s armed forces have not only become more belligerent at the mouth of the Sarstoon River by blocking it with a large gunboat, but they seemed to have once more resumed their posture as an international bully.

BTV leader, nationalist and activist Wil Maheia, who made the report of the new Guatemalan aggression today, backed up his report with photographs of the reinforced GAF presence.

All this has happened less than three months after Belize joined Guatemala in voting to take the issue of the unfounded Guatemalan claim to Belize to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Two days after seven Belizean civilians in a boat were harassed by the GAF on the Belize side of the Sarstoon River, the Ministry of National Security issued a press release today, Thursday, saying that it has reported the incident to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has reportedly lodged a strong protest to the Government of Guatemala.

The Ministry of National Security said, in a press release, that this latest incident was “very disappointing and demonstrates bad faith at a time when both countries have made significant progress in moving towards a permanent solution to the long-standing unfounded territorial claim.”

The Ministry of National Security release said that the “Belize Defense Force Forward Operating Base (FOB) reported that at about 9:23 a.m. on July 23rd 2019, a Belizean vessel with seven civilians, including Mr. Wil Maheia of the Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV) and Mr. Martin Cus of the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIM), approached the FOB and requested an escort to proceed into the Sarstoon River,” and that the group of Belizeans had explained that the  “purpose of the trip was to conduct an investigation on information received that illegal activity was taking place in the area of Black Creek.”

The release said that the group was intercepted by two GAF “metal sharks” and the civilians were asked to turn around, but the BDF continued to escort the civilian vessel. However, some four kilometers into the journey the BDF patrol boat developed mechanical issues and had to return to the base.

“The Sarstoon FOB commander reports that the Guatemalan patrol vessels refused to let the civilian vessel proceed unescorted, and insisted that they were to return, which they did,” the release said.

On that Tuesday morning, Belize Territorial Volunteers leader, Wil Maheia, had been taking a team of SATIIM rangers to Black Creek to investigate a report of illegal logging by Guatemalans.

Going up river, however, they were followed by the GAF, who asked them to present their legal identification documents, because they were in Guatemalan territory.

“This was a trip where the BTV offered to take SATIIM up the Sarstoon to Black Creek to investigate some alleged stealing of timber by Guatemalans. So we left Punta Gorda Town around 7:30 this morning and when we got to the BDF base, they told us we could go ahead and proceed,” Maheia said.

Shortly after they left the Belize Forward Operating Base, heavily armed GAF soldiers on a metal shark intercepted the group on the Belize side of the river.

The heavily armed GAF told the Belizeans that they were in Guatemalan waters and that they could not proceed upstream.

The GAF told the Belizeans that they should return to where they came from, because they were in Guatemalan territory and could not proceed, because they had not showed any papers or documents that proved they were authorized to be in that area.

In a back-and-forth exchange, Maheia told the GAF officer that he was in Belizean territory.

“Why would we have a paper for our own country? As far we know this belongs to Belize, but you won’t let us go up this river?” Maheia reportedly reasoned with the GAF soldier.

“This belongs to Guatemala. Have a nice day,” the GAF soldier reportedly told Maheia and his group that was made up of 7 men, as they continued up the river.

The Guatemalan metal shark continued alongside Maheia’s boat, threatening to capsize it in the powerful swells the metal shark’s engine was producing.

In the video that Maheia posted in a WhatsApp group, he is heard telling the Guatemalans, “You are making it dangerous for people in this boat.”

A BDF boat appeared and it cut off the Guatemalan metal shark that was menacing the Belizean civilians, and began escorting the BTV’s boat.

The GAF, however, did not turn back. They continued the harassment, despite the BDF escort.

Maheia had high praise for the BDF soldiers, saying, “The BDF today showed themselves really against the Guatemalans who insisted on blocking us from going up the river…the BDF held their own…when the Guatemalans tried to block us, the BDF stepped up and was really professional about it, stopping the Guatemalans from blocking us.”

The Government of Belize has been urging Guatemala since 2016 to try to work out a formal protocol for the use of the Sarstoon River by Belizean civilians. During the education process leading up to the ICJ referendum, the idea was put forward that Belize could approach the ICJ to get an injunction to restrain the Guatemalans from the kind of action that has been going on between Belizeans civilians and the GAF.