The Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV) Led by ‘Wil Maheia’ has managed to infuriate the Guatemalan Armed Forces (GAF) again, and the BTV’s video shows a more testy confrontation during an encounter that occurred on Sunday September 18th.
The arguments about the demarcation lines of Belize’s territory will be settled at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the near future, but ‘Wil Maheia’ is persistent on his efforts to place Belize’s Flag on the uninhabited mangrove island in the middle of the Sarstoon river, and the Guatemalan Armed Forces are always taking the flags down.
This past incident on Sunday Sept. 18th. almost resulted in the collision of boats by the BTV the BDF and the Guatemalan Forces who had 4 boats in the area with armed soldiers.
The location of where the incident occurred clearly took place on the Belize side; and in response GOB has issued a protest statement (PDF); referring to the incident as an incursion into Belize’s territory.
The following video was take by the Belize Territorial Volunteers.
Although it is clear in the video that the G.A.F were on the Belize side of the river, the constant confrontation with the G.A.F runs the risk of eroding the improved and fairly good relationship Belize has developed with Guatemala in the past few months.
These incidents of confrontations with the G.A.F can become a flash-point with unintended consequences that escalate far out of control in minutes.
Some astute observers have commented that maybe the ‘hand-of-the-devil’ is using a well meaning ‘Wil Maheia’ to create and escalate a confrontation that turns the current Belize-Guatemala dialog into conflict.