At the top of the newscast – you heard Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington say that he would make the ICJ cause into his crusade. And he started last night in Washington D.C. It was the first in what will be a series of public education efforts – except this one had all the top notch negotiators in attendance. And they pulled out a modest crowd of Belizean Americans in 30 degree weather. 7NEWS was there and here’s how it went.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
Though it was 27 degrees outside, the Georgetown Club in a Tony Area of Washington D.C. was the setting for a meeting with the Belizean American community in Washington. It was described as the first educational session building towards a referendum and what an education it was.
Eamon Courtenay, PUP Representative
“Continued negotiations are fruitless. Do we now hand the matter over to the judges in the International Court of Justice? It is an important decision that all Belizeans have to make.”
And though the unfortunate barroom setting may not have lent the event quite the gravitas it deserved, Elrington made it clear to those assembled that the stakes are high:
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“Guatemalans are coming over and settling in our country. They coming over and extending their pastures in our country. They are coming over and cutting down the logs, making wood out of them, and selling them. They are coming over gathering the xate, cutting them down and selling them in Europe. They are coming over and they are killing the birds and eating them, the iguanas, the lizards, and everything that moves. They are also threatening our armed forces.
The problem we have is with the ordinary Guatemalan who has no education, no employment, no land, and who seems this verdant land across the border in a country which they were accustomed to be told belonged to them. And there are elements in Guatemala who don’t really want a settlement, who believe Guatemala should come over and use force of arms to take back Belize. So that is the kind of dynamic we find ourselves in and for that reason, those who are privy to the information believe that best course of action is to try to have this matter resolved by an impartial court.
Regretfully, very very regretfully, the majority of our population doesn’t know what we know and so we have resolved to embark on a thorough educational campaign to bring our people up to our level so that they have the information that we have and if what that information they still decide that they don’t want to go to the ICJ, fine, we are going to abide by it. It simply means that if the ship sinks, we will all sink.
If we say we’re not going to go to the ICJ, I can see if I last the next ten years when I go to Benque and all those empty areas that are now there, I can see homes there and farms there and pastures there being tended by Guatemalans. They will in fact not necessarily take over the country militarily but they will simply come and take it over by settling on the property over time.”
And after that shock doctrine – what does Elrington want them to do?
Hon. Wilfred Elrington,
“I am inviting you to use the internet, use your telephone, call, write, find out what the situation is, discuss it, have access to the Embassy here, and advise your relatives and friends in Belize on what they should do. Discuss it with them. Also too I would urge you all to call in on the radio stations in Belize, that is where most things are discussed and resolved; that’s where most national issues are dealt with.”
The crowd seemed receptive if slightly stunned and these Belizeans in a cold place seemed to have warmed to the idea of supporting a referendum.
Public educations sessions – likely more formally scripted than last night’s event - will be held across Belize in the lead up to the referendum.
