Guatemalan Boats in Belize Waters Raise Concerns

This Friday, Belizean officials will sit down with their Mexican counterparts to talk about a growing concern, Guatemalan vessels repeatedly entering Belize’s waters. Just last month, the Coast Guard had to calmly escort an armed boat out of Belizean waters after its crew claimed they didn’t realize they’d crossed into Belize. Foreign Affairs Minister Francis Fonseca says the government is watching these incidents closely.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“We bring that up on every occasion, every opportunity. Mexico will be present. So I don’t know about, the appropriateness of raising that in front of them, but I can assure you that this matter is raised at every opportunity. As I reported to you all a few weeks ago, I was in Washington. I met face to face with the foreign minister of Guatemala. We raised the issue, we discussed it at length. On Monday of next week, we have the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Home Affairs meeting with their counterparts. Again, this will be discussed, this will be on the agenda. We take that issue very seriously and we do everything we can to ensure that Belize’s territorial integrity or sovereignty is protected.”

 

Reporter

“Is it is the pattern of behavior concerning? That you make a complaint and then it happens again. It’s almost like it seems like a low grade microaggression or provocation.”

 

Francis Fonseca

“Yeah. We are concerned about it. We are concerned about it. And we do recognize that. Listen, we are on a path to a peaceful resolution of this unfounded claim through the International Court of Justice. And we do recognize that these things may continue until we have a definitive judgment from the court. But we, as I said, we keep working with the Guatemalans. In every opportunity that we’ve raised it with them, they have said to us, listen, we are going to address this matter. The foreign minister, the president has said we do not support any of those activities. They have said that directly to us we certainly continue to work with them to address that issue.”

 

While eyebrows have been raised, officials are choosing to move forward carefully and diplomatically.