By Brianna Bennett

Copyright greaterbelize

Belize Territorial Volunteers Respond to Guatemalan Move at Sarstoon

Over the weekend, the Belize Territorial Volunteers made waves when they set out from Punta Gorda and journeyed all the way to the Sarstoon River. Their mission was to proudly plant the Belizean flag on Sarstoon Island. This wasn’t any other trip, though. It came just three days after the Guatemalan Armed Forces raised their own flag on that very same island on September Tenth. The BTV’s annual excursion is always symbolic, but this year, it carried extra weight, happening against the backdrop of ongoing military tensions between Belize and Guatemala. We caught up by phone with Wil Maheia, the founder of the Belize Territorial Volunteers, to hear more about what this brave move means for Belize.

On the phone: Wil Maheia, Founder, Belize Territorial Volunteers

“First of all, I would like to say big thanks to the military, the BDF and the coastguard, for shadowing us as we travel to the Sarstoon and, as usual, once we got into the river and proceeded towards the Sarstoon Island, the GAF boats came and prevented us, tried to prevent us from getting to the island. But I must say that the Belize Coast Guard and the Belize Defense Force soldiers were adamant about they were not going to stop us. So, they kinda shadowed or blanketed our boat until we got where we felt comfortable to put the flag and sung the national anthem. I was very relieved and I was very thankful for the trip because with the events happening on the tenth of September where the GAF put a flag on the island and our BDF insisting that they take it down, I would that an incident that happened the day after that as well, that people would be canceling and not wanting to go on the trip. But, in fact, that was totally opposite. No people did not want to go on the trip, everybody showed up. That was very encouraging, a lot of youths showed up, that’s also encouraging. What was discouraging was the fact that the GAF continued to behave in a bullying way on the Sarstoon and near our island because the island definitely belongs to Belize. So, that was the discouraging part of it but, you know, I was happy to see the assistance we got from the military, from our military, to make sure that we could have done what we wanted to do and ensure that our safety, that we were safe at all times.”