Before, Guatemala refused to put the proposals to referendum, and argued that the proposals were not in the national interests, as they then stood. So far, there have been no reports to indicate that there have been any amendments to the set of proposals that were presented in August/September, 2002.

Still, Guatemala?s shift in stance was announced this week when OAS Assistant Secretary General, Luigi R. Einaudi, Ph.D., visited the country to meet with high-ranking officials there, and then briefed the press on his visit.

Dr. Einaudi left Guatemala for Belize on Wednesday, and has been meeting with Government officials here.

His call, according to the Siglo XXI newspaper, an influential Guatemalan newspaper, was that the OAS wants the countries to end the differendum.

While we have gotten no official statement from Government on his visit, Guatemala?s press reports indicate that the OAS Assistant Secretary is surveying the situation in both countries, to determine the true position on the proposals.

Tomorrow morning, Einaudi will meet the Belizean media to discuss the Belize-Guatemala issue.

The OAS got involved in the bilateral dispute in 2000, after Guatemala?s claim over Belizean territory resurfaced, first in 1994 and then again in 1998. The conflict is rooted in an 1859 treaty between England and Guatemala, which the Guatemalans claim was not fully complied with by the British.

The last time Dr. Einaudi spoke in a public forum with the Belize press was when the OAS publicly presented the Ramphal/Reichler proposals in September, 2002, to end the age-old conflict.

Those proposals, formulated by two facilitators, Sir Shridath Ramphal for Belize and Paul Reichler for Guatemala, were to be put to simultaneous referenda in both Belize and Guatemala by the end of November, 2002.

While Belizean officials said they stood ready to submit the proposals to a popular vote by the OAS deadline, the Guatemalan administration held off on the referendum and eventually notified the OAS that they had rejected the proposals, because they conflicted with Guatemala?s national interests.

In an apparent effort to drum up support for the proposals on the Guatemalan side, Einaudi visited Guatemala before his arrival in Belize.

The Guatemalan press, which has extensively reported on Einaudi?s visit to that country, quoted President Berger as saying that he now supports a national referendum. After his induction to office, Berger?s administration had, like the former Guatemalan administration, formally rejected the Ramphal/Reichler proposals.

Guatemala?s foremost newspaper, the Prensa Libre, said in its July 18thedition that H.E. Berger has said that the recommendations of the facilitators, Ramphal and Reichler, should be submitted to the people for a referendum, so they could determine whether they would accept them or reject them.

?It is necessary to define, as soon as possible, what the people say, if they are in agreement with the proposals,? the Prensa Libre quotes Berger as saying.

The renewed push to resolve the territorial conflict between Belize and Guatemala, evidenced by Einaudi?s visit to the countries, seems rooted in the move towards regional integration.

The Guatemalan newspaper said that in order to advance the movement towards Central American integration, a ?definitive solution? of the conflict is ?urgent.?

However, the OAS is aware that the larger conflict cannot be solved unless border tensions are diffused. During his visit to Guatemala, Einaudi reportedly traveled to the Adjacency Zone, a strip of land than straddles the Belize-Guatemala border, but extends a kilometer on either side of the unmarked border.

The Guatemalan newspaper said that the resolution of the conflict would remain ?in limbo? until both sides ?reject? the 2002 proposals.

Both countries had previously agreed, according to a recent official statement from CARICOM, not to take the matter before the international court until the people of both countries were given a chance to solve the conflict through OAS-guided diplomacy.

Some Guatemalan officials have continually threatened to take Belize before the international court. However, there are others, including the OAS, CARICOM and Belize, as well as an international organization – Group of Friends, which includes Mexico, the USA, countries in the U.K., and other big international players, who support a friendly resolution through the OAS process.

Meanwhile, Guatemala has accused of Belize of continued abuses against its citizens in the Adjacency Zone. The Guatemalan newspaper typified the Adjacency Zone as ?the scene of attacks by Belizean soldiers.?

Einaudi, however, has visited the countries and the Adjacency Zone that separates them to find out what the facts on the ground really are.

After his meetings with Guatemalan officials, he arrived in Belize to do his survey here, and is leaving this country on Friday, after meeting with the Belizean press.

According to yesterday?s edition of Prensa Libre, Einaudi had said that he had been ?concerned? about the last talks between Belize and Guatemala in May, since the countries did not reach an accord over the territorial dispute.

?Now, that worry has changed to optimism,? it quoted the OAS official as saying.

Again, after two postponements in June and July, Belize and Guatemala are scheduled to meet at the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., on August 3 and 4?11 days from now.

Press reports from Guatemala indicate that the OAS would likely serve as facilitator, in place of Ramphal and Reichler, should both countries approve.

The reports also said that the objective is to find a solution that is politically, economically and legally feasible.

Einuadi, said Siglo XXI?s July 22, report, titled ?The countries should cede,? recognized that alleged abuses by Belizean military against Guatemalans could remain an area of discontent for Guatemala, while the settlement of Santa Rosa, which straddles the Belize-Guatemala border, could remain a bone of contention for Belize.

The existing proposals call for Belize to effectively cede that territory, by leasing it to the Guatemalan residents in perpetuity, in spite of the fact that the settlement is a clear incursion into Belizean territory.

Meanwhile, Guatemalans of another border settlement, Nueva Juda, in Melchor, Guatemala, who have settled illegally on Belizean soil, are the subjects of a relocation project initiated under the OAS regime.