Local News

On Wednesday morning the group Citizens Organized for Liberty through action staged a mini protest in front of the OAS office on blue Marlin Drive in Belize City. The intention was to send a message that the group is not happy with statements attributed to the Secretary General of the OAS Miguel Insilza regarding the death of a Guatemalan National in the chiquibull National reserve.

Late yesterday evening Love News spoke via telephone with the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Alexis Rosado who explained that the whole issue of the statements attributed to the OAS Secretary General was an unfortunate misunderstanding that has been worked out to the satisfaction of Belmopan.

ALEXIS ROSADO, Chief Executive Officer (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

“The OAS Media Department put out a Press Release which originally had some errors and also the original was done in Spanish and then the translated version had a misquote of the Secretary General.  The OAS tried to – drew it to their attention, they try to correct it but in the effort what they actually did was to compound it a bit more by making another little error.  It is all in advertence and they have explained it to us.  In fact, the Secretary General himself had spoken to our bosses that are in Washington, Ambassador Mr. Mendez and told him personally that the use of the word reprehensible for example was clearly a misquote. His original word in Spanish was ramentable and that was translated into reprehensible, that’s not what he meant at all, he has made that very cleared to us.  Originally, the OAS Press Release said that the incident took place at the adjacency zone and we know very well that it didn’t, so they try to correct that if you look at the second Press Release it doesn’t have that either and then the second Press Release said that they were tenant farmers but we have already establish that in fact what they were doing was illegal logging.  The whole thing was a mix up, it all was all in advertence, no harm was meant and they have made that very clear, absolutely clear as I told you what the highest level the SG himself made sure he expressed this to the Ambassador.”

PATRICK JONES, Reporter

“But Ambassador Rosado can you appreciate that the Belizean people, we get very concern when blunders like this are made a t a diplomatic level because it could cause us our country.”

ALEXIS ROSADO, Chief Executive Officer (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

“Well I won’t put it in that form, I don’t know how it can cause us our country but it does lead to misunderstandings and people will clearly be upset by those things.  But like I said it is all unfortunate.  We were on top of it from the get go but through our own channels we operate the diplomatic fields.  We were satisfied that from the very beginning the OAS was very clear to us that that was not what they meant and we have to take them for their  word, indeed if they even try to correct it and well it wasn’t properly corrected.  But if you notice their website, what they have done is to with draw the entire Press Release.”

PATRICK JONES, Reporter

“So the protest today was basically asking for a retraction and an apology.  Are you prepare to give that apology to the Belizean people?”

ALEXIS ROSADO, Chief Executive Officer (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

“Who me give an apology? For what?”

PATRICK JONES, Reporter

“For the whole mix up and everything that went wrong with the OAS and the Secretary General?”

ALEXIS ROSADO, Chief Executive Officer (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

“We don’t hold the OAS’s hands you know.  We don’t hold their hands in how they write or how they say things.  What we do is we call it to their attention and like what I said no harm was meant, they assured us of that and I don’t know that I owe anybody an apology.  What I can assure the Belizean public is that from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs point of view we have from the get go been on top of this and we had been engaging with Guatemala, Embassy here in Belize, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from through our own Embassy.  Ambassador Martinez have been very active in Guatemala and also Ambassador Mendez in Washington, we’ve all have been very active.  All of us had been lead clearly and directly by our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Elrington, so we have not taken our eye off the ball at all.”

That was the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Alexis Rosado.  A high level vice-ministerial level meeting between Belize and Guatemala is schedule for early next week at the OAS Headquarters in Washington, D.C.