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People’s United Party calls Sarstoon River restriction “draconian”

By on April 29, 2016
PUP Press Release

PUP Press Release

Belize City, BELIZE. Friday, April 29, 2016. The Opposition People’s United Party (PUP) has come out against the government’s imposition of a temporary ban on Belizeans’ entry into the Sarstoon River for a month.

A press release from the PUP calls today’s Statutory Instrument imposing the restriction a “draconian measure” which the party does not support.

PUP leader, according to the release, informed Prime Minister Dean Barrow of the Opposition’s positing during a meeting this morning.

The PUP says this move by government is “a retrograde and highly prejudicial step” and notes that it could be viewed as “acquiescence by Belize to Guatemala’s assertion of sovereignty over the entire Sarstoon.”

The PUP believes that the restriction has the potential to “embolden Guatemala and harden its resolve to assert sovereignty over the entire Sarstoon.”

The Opposition wants government to declare whether the regulation is applicable equally to Guatemalans who enter Belize’s portion of the Sarstoon River and calls on GOB to “immediately rescind the unpatriotic regulation.”

PUP Press Release (Page 2)

PUP Press Release
(Page 2)

The PUP is concerned that it does not take into consideration the impact the law will have on Belizeans who navigate the Belize portion of the Sarstoon for their livelihood.

The restriction imposed on the Sarstoon was made on the eve of a planned trip to the area by the Belize Territorial Volunteers to commemorate the 1859 treaty between the United Kingdom and Guatemala which established Belize’s boundaries.

The PUP says that since the BTV has issued a declaration of peace and participants in the excursion to the Sarstoon are required to abide by a code of conduct, there is no foreseeable threat to public safety from the Belizeans.

“The only threat to public safety will come from Guatemala,” says the PUP statement.

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