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There was a dangerous escalation of hostilities by the Guatemalan Armed Forces at the mouth of the Sarstoon River today - and, once again, it was in a clash with the Belize Territorial Volunteers. And it all happened plainly within Belizean territory in front of the BDF Forward Operating Base.
It played out this morning and Jules Vasquez has put together video taken by the BDF at the base along with video from the Territorial Volunteers:
Raised voices again at the mouth of the Starstoon. This is the view from the BDF's forward operating base as the soldiers stood back and watched the Guatemalans advance. You can hear the raised voices as one of the officers berates Will Maheia.
GAF Soldier
"You all are in Belizean Territory. You guys want to enter Guatemala, go to the Captain's office."
Will Maheia
"This is..."
GAF Soldier
"... If you comply with the procedures established by Guatemala. Meanwhile, you cannot be here in Guatemala!"
Will Maheia
"This is Belizean territory."
GAF Soldier
"This is not Belizean territory. You are talking about things that you don't know about. Comply with the Guatemalan law!"
Will Maheia
"Comply with the Belizean law."
Maheia notes that the Guatemalans are clearly in Belizean territory.
Will Maheia, Belize Territorial Volunteers
"Guatemalans once again on the Belizean side of the Starstoon. There is the BDF base. and there is the Guatemalan military."
All this came at the end of a pursuit when the Guatemalans were tailing Maheia and followed him right to in front of the BDF base. But what provoked the pursuit? This boat, a Guatemalan fisher, caught pushing casually through Belizean Walters.
Will Maheia
"Okay at the top of the building, green building in the back, that's the Belize Defense Force. And then here you have Guatemalan fishers inside Belizean waters."
Maheia says night patrols are needed to combat this type of activity. But right now, the only combative behavior we saw on this river was not one but two Guatemalan navy boats pulling up, on Will Maheia.
