The process called confidence building is a diplomatic terms, but the British Government is pushing that agenda in many areas outside of Foreign Affairs. One of those areas is journalism where the British based Thompson Foundation has been training Belizean and Guatemalan reporters, many times in groups.
Another course started today at the Radisson with the participation of 4 Guatemalan journalists and 6 of their local counterparts. Together they will learn how to report on domestic violence and child abuse from British instructors. And while it's only ten participants, the profile of the event is high because of the diplomatic subtext. So high in fact that the prime minister Hon. Said Musa made the rare Monday showing in Belize City to address the gathering. He spoke on Lorna Wade, one of his constituents, who recently suffered a severe, life threatening beating from her husband.
Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister
“Ms. Lorna Wade is the most recent victim of domestic violence in Belize or family violence. She was beaten on her head. Her skull smashed by her common-law husband and left for dead. She lies today critically ill in a hospital in Merida, Yucatan. And we pray that she will recover from her serious injuries. From the last report that I have seen, her chances are very very slim. She falls into coma periodically and she is in a very serious state. That condition of Lorna Wade should make us all realize that instead of wasting time engaged in a differendum that dates back more than a century; our governments, Belize and Guatemala, should get on with the business of addressing the real issues affecting our peoples.”