It wasn't exactly ten days of freedom but Opposition Leader Dean Barrow's recent trip to Guatemala has stirred quite the controversy. As we reported at the end of August, Barrow, who has a functional grasp of the Spanish language, went for a Spanish refresher course at Los Capitanes Generales Spanish Academy, in Antigua, Guatemala.
He was there for ten days and returned last week. He said he went to brush up on his tenses - and that's fitting, because his trip did just that, cause tension amongst those who watch Guatemala with a wary eye. Today he defended his trip and told us there was nothing sinister about the agenda. The invitation came from the British government as part of the ongoing confidence building measures. Here's his interview.
Hon. Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"I think it is a good program. I think that both from a personal and political point of view it was an opportunity for me. Personal because I always want to try and improve my Spanish as a way of communicating with the Spanish speaking population in this country. I thought my making this effort would be appreciated by the Hispanic community. And I also thought that in terms of the political exchange between Belize and Guatemala, these confidence building measures, including those that deal with how to diffuse situations on the ground in the border areas, these confidence building measures are a good thing and so I had absolutely no hesitation, no reservation at all, about taking part in this."
Jules Vasquez,
It's been said that you accepted an invitation from a hostile state and you were the guest of a hostile state.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"Well that's wrong isn't it. I accepted an invitation from the British to attend a language school in Guatemala but this is a program that is under the auspices of the British government or the British Embassy in Guatemala. I was not an official guest of the Guatemalan government so that's extremely inaccurate."
Jules Vasquez,
But your personal security in that state was dependent on the will of a government which is hostile to our own or which has a claim upon ours.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"I didn't see it in those terms at all. I didn't think questions of security even arose. It simply was not, to me, the kind of big deal that obviously other people thought it was. I really cannot for the life of me see anything sinister about the fact of confidence building measures and about my setting an example, if you will, in terms of taking advantage of those confidence building measures.
To the extent that the measures can actually encourage people to people contact, that is a good thing. The more these people know about us, the more I think they will be forced to recognize that we're a completely separate reality, that we're a sovereign people and that we have to be respected as such and they have long since recognized that Belize is a sovereign country.
They say that a portion of the country of Belize, in terms of its land territory, is rightfully theirs. But it's in a sense surreal almost, or certainly unreal, but that is how diplomacy operates. The fact is they do accept Belize. We send football, in fact I was very embarrassed when I was over there to have people confront me with an article Prensa Libre that showed that Wagiya had lost 8 to nil but I mean they accept our representation in sports, in diplomacy, in every possible field as a separate country."
Jules Vasquez,
What would Phillip Goldson about your taking up such an invitation from a neutral state but taking up such an invitation to visit and learn Spanish in a foreign country. What would Phillip Goldson say?
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"I don't think that Mr. Goldson would have had any difficulty, not in terms of the current state of affairs. Remember that we have come an extremely long way from those days in which indeed Guatemala refused to recognize Belize, trying to embarrass us at international conferences, tried to insist that we were an integral part of the Guatemalan fatherland or motherland. Now we are at a level where we talk as sovereign equals.
I don't believe that Mr. Goldson would have had any difficulty at all with my participating in the process of confidence building, especially since as I repeat I went as a guest of the British, eventhough it was to attend classes at a Spanish language academy in Guatemala. With every respect to those who might see things differently, I think it is not even a storm in a teacup because quite frankly I have had absolutely no grief from people in my party. Nobody seems to think that constituted anything amiss."
Previously PUP junior ministers Rodwell Ferguson and Marcial Mes participated in the language exchange programme. They each stayed for a month.
