Almost one year ago, the BDF soldiers stationed at the Sarstoon Forward Operating Base had to temporarily relocate because the base was in danger of falling into the sea. Erosion had left it practically unlivable, but the BDF assured Belizeans that the area would still be patrolled 6am to 6pm everyday.
However, according to the leader of the Belize Territorial Volunteers, Will Maheia, that hasn't been happening. He told us today that the base has been practically abandoned, meanwhile the Guatemalan Armed Forces are stepping up their presence in the area.
And to prevent them from completely encroaching, Maheia says the BTV will be occupying the FOB in the meantime while it is being fixed - which he hopes will be soon, since he says it shouldn't be taken this long to begin with.
We spoke with him via Zoom.
Wil Maheia, BTV Leader
"The BTV has been around for a while now and we believe that it was because of our lobbying efforts that the forward operating base was put at the mouth of the Sarstoon and the results were immense, the illegal fishing was reduced, there are more marine life in the area, more fish for the fishermen of the south to fish, so it's also an economic benefits, economic and social benefit, and environmental benefit to all Belizeans. So it was of concern to us when the BDF basically abandoned the forward operating base. There was a release from the government last year that said the base would be temporarily inactive for renovations. Well, it's been over a year now, we have taken engineers to the forward operating base who find that it is still suitable for people to live in. Yes, there is some erosion taking place, but the base is still strong enough and still liveable."
"We noticed that the Guatemalan Armed Forces continue to have their presence on the Sarstoon, in fact they have expanded their base on the Sarstoon, while we abandoned our base so we the territorial volunteers believe it is very important for us to maintain our presence on the Sarstoon and on the Sarstoon island so after we met a few weeks ago, or months ago, we decided, look, if the government is not going to do anything with the forward operating base, we are going to occupy the base to show that Belize does have a presence on the Sarstoon."
"It's not like a mansion is down there, it's a 20X24 building, in one weekend that seawall could be put in. We, the Belize Territorial Volunteers have actually written to the commandant of the BDF and basically saying that we are willing to help to reconstruct the seawall so that the military could return to the base. Well, they didn't take that and it's not rocket science, we have Ewart Garbutt and all those volunteers who saved Silk Caye, a whole entire island, and they did that in a month. And with our military, it's going on a month and our base has totally been abandoned. while the Guatemalans have expanded their station, their station, their pier, their dock has gotten bigger, so they are establishing more of a presence in their area and they're stretching it over to our area."
The last time we spoke with Minister Florencio Marin was back in March and he said that there was an allocation for the renovations in the budget, and that the process of repairs would take six months.
