There may be a showdown at Sarstoon Forward Operating Base this weekend, and it won't be between Guatemala and Belize. Rather, it's the BDF and the Belize Territorial Volunteers that might be going head to head.
Yesterday, you heard BTV leader Will Maheia announce that this Saturday, they will be moving into the FOB that they believe has been abandoned for almost a year. As we've reported, the soldiers had to be temporarily relocated because the base was in danger of falling into the sea due to erosion. The Ministry has plans to renovate the base, but that has not started yet.
In the meantime, Maheia warned that the Guatemalan Armed Forces have been expanding their presence in the river. He also claimed that the base had been abandoned, and that the BDF were slacking in their patrols.
Well, today the Brigadier General denied those claims, and added that the BTV has no authority to move into the FOB. And this coming weekend, the soldiers will be in place in case the civilians attempt to do so.
Brig. Gen. Azariel Loria, Commander, B.D.F.
"We patrol it, we have a standing operation procedure that we are going to patrol it from first light to night; to last light we call it. At certain times, depending on the astronomical conditions, and especially now, we cannot be able to go because of the tidal waves, but whenever we have good weather we go. Whenever we have our boats that are giving trouble, we cannot go, but the directive that has been given to the battalion commander down in the south is to patrol it every day. And we have been doing that. Over the past two weeks, we have had major operations going on in the area of Cadenas; that is to the next side of the Sarstoon, bordering Guatemala. We are removing a palm plantation that has been there and we are patrolling and that same boat is providing assistance. So we are patrolling the entire river that belongs to Belize."
Reporter
"If the BTV moves in or attempts to...?"
Brig. Gen. Azariel Loria, Commander, B.D.F.
"That is a military garrison, it's a military forward observation base. I don't think it belongs to the territorial volunteer element, so we're going to place signs to keep out trespassers and intruders, because that building belongs to the Ministry of National Défense and Border Security and we have not given authority or permission for anyone else to occupy it."
Reporter
"So what happens on Saturday?"
Brig. Gen. Azariel Loria, Commander, B.D.F.
"We are making provisions for it. I have provided direction to the battalion commander down in the south and he is doing the plans accordingly. But I don't want to the details. He is the one doing the details and he will know what to do when the time comes, if it comes on that given date where the territorial volunteers so claim that they will go and take it over."
And according to Maheia, the base is not a large building, so it shouldn't be taking this long to renovate. We asked Loria what the hold up was.
Brig. Gen. Azariel Loria, Commander, B.D.F.
"I have been briefed by the ministry of national defense, but I know these things because the government of Belize has allocated the funds for the reconstruction of a brand-new forward observation base in the Sarstoon. We have gotten the estimates from one building contractor and we are getting from other. We are getting the tendering process together and all of that. But that is in place already. We have an estimate from one person. It took a little time, because it is not easy. We are crunch for resources, but now we have the funding. We had the funding since we got the new fiscal year and we are working towards it."
Reporter
"Maheia said that they volunteered or they asked to volunteer to help to fix or build the sea wall."
Brig. Gen. Azariel Loria, Commander, B.D.F.
"We want like what I was briefed and requested from my ministry that we don't want something second nature. We want something that when we go there, we want to be permanently station. That is as the Cadenas OP to the west; that is like a border marker for the 4 markers of our land where we belong. The other one must be permanent as well and we need something more permanent that we will not be in 2-3 years having to bring in engineers, because it's not build to the specification that we want."
Renovations have yet to commence on the base.
