Also appearing on Sunup today was Will Maheia from the Belize Territorial Volunteers. He discussed a Sunday showdown on the Sarstoon with the Guatemalan military one again encroaching in Belizean waters. He said they came within 50 feet of the Forward Operating Base:
Wil Maheia, BTV
"Because the Guatemalan military is so face. They come right within like 20 yards of the BDF base. And trying to tell us that we are in Guatemala when they were inside Belize's territory. And this is the things that we have to expose. We have to let them know, let people know that, look Guatemalans continue to violate our sovereignty."
"But we are not only going about going to the Sarstoon, and yes, you see the the the videos of the Guatemalan encounter and we are holding our ground. But as a result of our presence down there, the fishing between Punta Gorda and Sarstoon has become so much better because of our presence along with the BDF has and Coast Guard has chased out the illegal fishing. You know, ten years ago around this time of the month, the Guatemalans, they are a big Catholic nation, so they eat a lot of seafood during Lent. So the pressure comes to Belize. We have a lot of seafood. And they will be all we up in Monkey River fishing. It's the territorial volunteers that have zeroed that that have like those fishermen are gone from there. The GILLNETS are gone."
"Our oceans are much better. Look at that. You know, I mean, that's a gill net. Those are volunteers up there, you know, And, you know, we're save those animals and there, these guys are raping our oceans. This was just a few months ago, you know, while gill net is already banned."
