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Renewed ICJ campaign – Belize and Guatemala team head south

HighlightsRenewed ICJ campaign – Belize and Guatemala team head south

There have been several reports of continued incursions by Guatemalans into Belize, but a recently appointed joint commission made up of high-level officials from Belize and Guatemala has begun the discussion on intensifying programs on the ground that would discourage incursions into Belize.

The talks are in line with a renewed campaign to convince voters in Belize and Guatemala that the territorial dispute between the countries should be finally settled by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

On the road leading to the meeting hall at Belcampo Belize in Punta Gorda on Tuesday, though, the Belize Territorial Volunteers and the People’s National Party hoisted “no ICJ” flags, making their stance clearly known.

Speaking with PGTV outside of the meeting, Alexis Rosado, the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that there is a dispute over where the parties say the border is located.

“Is there anything in the pipeline for keeping the borderline clean or cleared?” Maheia probed.

Rosado then announced that the team had visited the Gracias a Dios “monument” yesterday. That monument is really a border marker, indicating where Guatemala ends and Belize begins.

“We say it is a border, they say it is not. Let’s solve it at the ICJ,” Rosado said.

He said that the ongoing dispute should not prevent the parties from collaborating, speaking of the need for “functional cooperation.”

“The biggest problem they have there [in Guatemala] is poverty and underdevelopment,” said Rosado.

“What we ought to do as governments is to try and facilitate ways for our people to get out of that poverty – endemic poverty,” he added.

He added that if Belize does something on its side, but the Guatemalans are not doing it on their side, then their people will want to keep coming over to Belize. It is also possible that they will develop on their side and Belize will be left behind, so functional cooperation is needed, the CEO said.

Rosado was joined at the PG meeting by Guatemala’s vice minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Raúl Morales, and his team from Guatemala. The Belize team was composed of the CEO in the Ministry of Agriculture – Jose Alpuche, the CEO in the Ministry of National Security – George Lovell, Belize’s Ambassador to Guatemala – Fred Martinez, and the representative of the Opposition People’s United Party – Lisa Shoman.

Rosado said that they are expecting that the private sector of Izabal in Guatemala and PG in Belize would enter into constructive collaboration.

After a bilateral meeting held in Belize on January 9, 2014, Belize and Guatemala announced in a joint statement that their Foreign Ministers had agreed to immediately establish a joint commission of the two countries, to be headed by Rosado and Morales, with the support of the OAS.

The purpose of the commission, the parties said, is to enhance the implementation of the Confidence Building Measures and to propose measures which would contribute to the strengthening of the bilateral relations and the avoidance of any conflict.

Tuesday’s session was their first meeting, aimed at setting out a work program. Rosado said that they will meet again in a week or so.

Other meetings will be set for the agriculture and foreign trade sectors in the coming weeks to tackle the informal trade that continues to occur across the Belize-Guatemala border.

Rosado said that he is very pleased with projects being implemented in Guatemala, in places such as Monte Los Olives, where locals are given seeds to plant, “to not give them an excuse to come into Belize.” Rosado said that pilot project ought to be replicated and spread to other communities.

He also indicated that silos were also being distributed to Guatemalan households for grain storage, so that they could store grains to sell when they could attract better prices.

PGTV’s Wil Maheia noted that there are roughly 6 buses going to Jalacte every day now, yet there is no official border crossing there.

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