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SATIIM threatened by Guat gunboat in the Sarstoon

GeneralSATIIM threatened by Guat gunboat in the Sarstoon
On Tuesday, October 9, an entourage of SATIIM board members and staff, led by Mr. Gregory Ch’oc, Executive Director of SATIIM, were stopped and interrogated by Guatemalan naval officers while on their way to Graham Creek (village) by way of the Sarstoon River. The Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM) informed Belize of the incident by way of a press release dated Wednesday, October 10.
 
According to SATIIM, their party, which consisted of about twelve people, including a police officer from Barranco in plain clothes, was on the Belize side traveling westward up the river in their 26-foot skiff when they were accosted by five Guatemalans in a Guatemalan Navy gunboat.    The Guatemalan party, which included three armed men, a captain, and an officer in charge, demanded to know where the Belize party was going and asked them to produce their passports, captain’s license, and papers for the vessel they were traveling in.
 
The SATIIM group reports that they informed the Guatemalans that they (SATIIM) had documents to verify ownership of the vessel they were on, and that they were traveling under a licensed captain. Mr. Ch’oc, it is reported, further explained to the officer in charge of the Guatemalan party that they were members of the organization SATIIM, co-managers (along with the Belize Forestry Department) of the 41,898-acre Sarstoon Temash National Park on the Belize side of the border, and that his group was on a routine mission on the organization’s boat to monitor the national park in the area of Graham Creek.
 
SATIIM reports that the officer in charge of the Guatemalan party then informed the SATIIM party that “the land (to the north) is for Belize, but the river is for them (Guatemala).” The SATIIM party says the captain of the Guatemalan naval vessel then ordered them not to proceed on their journey, or they would be shot at.
 
At this point, the SATIIM group inquired of the Guatemalan officer what they should do. They were advised to stop at the Guatemalan base and inform the officers there about what they (SATIIM) were doing on the river. According to the SATIIM release the “discussion lasted for about twenty minutes”, and then they were allowed to proceed on their journey to Graham Creek. 
 
In a conversation with Mr. Gregory Ch’oc this afternoon, he informed that he had made representation in respect to the dangerous incident to the OAS’s Miguel Angel Trinidad, and he was on his way to see the Belize Minister of Foreign Affairs on the matter.
 
Mr. Ch’oc says that his organization regularly visits the area, at least once per month. They have encountered Guatemalan authorities in the area many times before, but this was the first time they have been so aggressed. Some members of his party were extremely frightened by the incident, Mr. Ch’oc said. Despite this, Mr. Ch’oc had his photographer take pictures of the Guatemalan vessel, pictures which he hopes to share with the nation next week.
 
SATIIM has sent off letters today, October 11, 2007, to the Ambassador of Guatemala, Excellency Manuel Tellez, and Belize Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Lisa Shoman, informing them about the incident and requesting their urgent attention…to put in place policies and mechanisms to avoid reoccurrence of this hostile act by Guatemalan military personnel
 
NOTE: Article 1 of The Anglo-Guatemalan Convention of 1859 states that Beginning at the mouth of the River Sarstoon in the Bay of Honduras, and proceeding up the mid-channel thereof to Gracias a Dios Falls; … It is established in the law since 1859 that the Belize-Guatemala border on the south side is the middle of the Sarstoon River. The Adjacency Zone, an area one kilometer from our established border, as outlined in the Confidence Building Measures of 2000, does not apply to our southern border.
 
Graham Creek is one of the southernmost villages in Belize. It is not accessible by road. To reach the village one must travel by foot from Crique Sarco, or travel about fifteen miles up the Sarstoon River, and then about 3 miles up Graham Creek. There are about fifteen families living in Graham Creek.

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