And while Faber railed at his constituency this afternoon - this morning, inside party headquarters, leader Shyne Barrow kept it all business. The party tried its best to present a unified front with an above average number of standard bearers and prospective candidates filling the room. Still, the event felt mostly forced and kind of stale - with the presenters hardly picking up steam on issues that have been publicly ventilated by others.
Except when they spoke about the Bogota Pact - which is when Leader Shyne Barrow went all out against Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay:
Moses "Shyne" Barrow, UDP Leader
"And there was no greater antagonist. There was no greater crusader against going to the ICJ than Eamon Courtenay. As a matter of fact, they took us to court to stop us from going to the ICJ, so now how come he will have the Belizean people feel that it's okay for senators, no disrespect Hon. Peyrefitte, Hon. Williams - senators who are appointed, who the Belizean people did not elect to accede to a treaty that has no necessity. The Hondurans do not have an active claim against Belize. So what type of hypocrisy, what type of dubious position is the foreign minister and the government of Belize, the PUP government taking now that they feel that they could expose Belize to an ICJ claim by Honduras that does not currently exist."
"This is a gross violation of the Belizean people's right to decide on our territorial integrity. The foreign minister who was against going to the ICJ cannot come now and say oh yes, this is a part of the claim. It was not a part of the claim."
UDP Senator, Mike Peyrefitte, who represents the UDP on the national Negotiating Team has also maintained his party's position that the matter must have popular support and approval. But, he said what he heard the Prime Minister talking about last night in an interview on 7News left him confused:
Michael Peyrefitte, UDP Rep-Negotiating Team
"The foreign minister has already approach our foreign minister and said well we will have to address this now that you have taken this to the ICJ. What? The foreign minister has never indicated to me, Minister Hulse nor anybody else as far as I am concerned - even any discussion to that level with the foreign minister of Honduras and this is what he says, "And the judges of the ICJ would not touch the Sapodilla Caye because they would realize now that it isn't only Guatemala, but also Honduras and from our stance there is an issue of timing. That is absolutely crazy. Where does he gets it from that the judges would not rule on the Sapodilla Cayes simply because of a situation with Honduras. The judges have never indicated that. Nobody has ever indicated that for sure the judges would refuse to pronounce on Sapodilla, because Honduras is not a part of the claim. That is not the case and when the Prime Minister says that, it is very reckless commentary from someone who doesn't know what they're talking about."
Peyrefitte also complained that the opposition was ambushed when the Pact of Bogota was included in the Senate agenda on the morning of the meeting, the Cabinet Secretary said today that the details of the Pact are no secret to the Senator. Leslie explained that Peyrefitte had been a part of the process every step of the way so he isn't out of the loop.
In addition, Leslie said that there is already a process at the ICJ, and it would be impossible to redirect that.
Stuart Leslie, Cabinet Secretary
"The lead senator I hope is advising carefully the leader of the opposition, because that gentleman knows more about where we are with this case than I do. He is one of the advisors that sits with our legal team that advises and those advice the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the representative of the leader of the opposition - they are the people who speak with our lawyers and get all the opinion on it. So, if for him to come out there and say about never know - he been briefed on everything. We keep nothing away from them. That has always been the process, the way we handle the ICJ process and the Belize Guatemala process where the opposition sit at the table, not to be consulted, but also be a part of the decision-making process."
"We have a process at the ICJ right now where this case is ongoing. So, are we going to put a pause on what is happening? a process that has cost millions of dollars and say wait, hold on and let us go back. The ICJ doesn't work like that. If another country is coming in to say I have a claim on this, you want us to wait 5 years? because everything that has happened already will be put on pause, because the ICJ will not say we will come back again and look at this same issue, because a third country. So, do we want that or do we want to proceed."
"The people decided in a referendum where the opposition did not agree that we should go to the ICJ. The people decided that we should go to the ICJ. You want to go back and ask them one more time again if you really want to go to the ICJ, because that is what you're asking."
Reporter
"You were saying that then in the opposition Eamon Courtenay presented - you know this thing is outstanding, it's going to come and bite us. Why didn't you all jumped on that immediately taking over?"
Stuart Leslie, Cabinet Secretary
"We immediately jumped on it by getting a legal opinion. We immediately jumped on it, Eamon Courtenay, immediately when the Prime Minister appointed him to manage the process, sat with the lawyers and said look, this is in the constitution of Honduras, I want a legal opinion on this and it was based on that legal opinion that cabinet took the decision that we should proceed to sign the Pact of Bogota."
