The Prime Minister declared the UB-San Carlos university conflict resolution workshop open yesterday and over 200 participants got to work today.
Sure, you might say it's just another workshop, but it's part of the 'OAS' confidence building measures and sponsored by the British High Commission - and those living in the adjacency zone were in full participation in today's exercise.
The president of UB Dr. Corinth Morter-Lewis says that this kind of international dialogue places the university squarely at the forefront of the national discourse.
Dr. Corinth Morter-Lewis, UB President
"We should be in the forefront of the issues that are critical to the development of Belize and so this was an opportunity that we had to bring to the people something that as important as our issues-in this case the Guatemalan claim and other issues like crime and social issues that we have in Belize. And so the goal of the University is to provide a kind of forum where those issues can be discussed in a non-partisan way. We see the university as being the institution where we have our academics and where we also have the capacity to provide the kind of forums where those issues can be discussed in an objective way. And at the same time we are responsible for disseminating that information and sharing it with the public at large."
Godsman Ellis, Facilitator
"The majority of the stakeholders, the participants here, are the people who live along the borders-the Puerto Barrios, La Buga, Punta Gorda, Jalacte, Arenal, Benque, San Jose Succotz, Bullet tree, Melchor de Mencos-these are the people who are here. The university people are the indirect stakeholders in that for once they are in a situation to understand the problems of trans-boundary people-people whose lives are depending on border issues."
The exercise continues on Wednesday and Thursday with a conference on conflicts of other countries and on Friday with a crime prevention workshop.