Commentary: Most Guatemalans believe that Belize belongs to Guatemala
|
| Published on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 |
Email To Friend Print Version |
By Wellington C. Ramos
The government of Guatemala has a program in their public school system whereby they teach their citizens that the country of Belize belongs to them and most Guatemalan citizens grow up believing that this myth is true and are willing to join the military to help take back Belize.
While Guatemala has a program to make their citizens believe this, Belize does not have a nationalism program in their public school system to challenge this myth and explain to their citizens why Belize belongs to Belizeans and not to Guatemala.
 |
| Born in Dangriga Town, the cultural capital of Belize, Wellington Ramos has an M.A. in Urban Studies from Long Island University |
The effect of this is that most Guatemalans’ sense of nationalism is stronger than that of Belizeans, and Belizeans grow up uncertain as to whether they have a legitimate claim to their country.
Guatemalan citizens do not have any respect for Belizean nationality. They go into Belize, take our land and act as if the land belongs to them. The Salvadorans are coming into Belize and they are doing the same thing. Everybody wants a piece of Belize and is getting it. While this nonsense is taking place, the average natural-born Belizean citizen cannot get a piece of lot to build a home for his family.
Every, and anybody is getting except the natural-born Belizean citizen.
This new UDP Government must put a program in place to make sure that every Belizean citizen gets a piece of their territory so that they can fight for it if that day should come.
Under George Cadle Price it was convenient for him to allow people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and the neighbouring republics to come into Belize, reside and be given land to settle. This got out of control when they had the civil war in El Salvador in the 1980s. The American government was concerned that the people from El Salvador were going to migrate in large numbers to the United States and Latinize the United States.
Ronald Reagan, the then president of the United States, made a proposal to George Price to accept the Salvadorans into Belize. George Price accepted them and started the settlement called Valley of Peace near Belmopan our capital and made Ducho Thomas the Coordinator.
Since then, there have been several settlements and villages growing throughout the country of Belize.
Belize became Latinized first, while the United States is on its way to be next.
There is nothing wrong with reaching out to other human beings in time of need. However, the effect of every policy must be examined and analyzed carefully before it is implemented by any government.
Maybe George Price felt that, because he is of Latin extraction, these people will add more to his power to be prime minister for the rest of his life.
In 1984, because of all the problems this program brought to our nation, the Belizean people voted his party out of power and elected the United Democratic Party in a landslide 21 to 7, where even he was defeated by Derick Aikeman, a young Belizean politician from the United States, making Manuel Esquivel the first opposition prime minister.
This was done under the auspices of the United Nations Human Rights Division. Around that same time there were problems in Haiti and the Haitians were leaving their country in large numbers also.
Belize could have accepted a similar amount of black Haitians to balance the population but the People’s United Party and George Price refused.
At that time there were more black people in Belize as opposed to Mestizos. Since that refugee program, the racial demographics started to change and that is why we have more Mestizos in Belize than black people.
The economic opportunities in Belize declined also and many blacks started to leave Belize to come to the United States to join their families. Due to the lack of economic opportunities and family re-unification, blacks continue to leave Belize in large numbers while the Mestizos remained and added to their numbers, making them the largest ethnic group in Belize today.
The country of Guatemala and the neighboring Central American republics have a poor record when it comes to treating ethnic groups that are not of Latin extraction.
My grandmother was born in Livingston, Guatemala, and my grandfather from my father’s side was born in Bluefield, Nicaragua. Like many other Belizean citizens I have relatives in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Out of all the countries in Central America, the only country a person can reach the highest despite his or her race is our beloved country Belize and that is why they are all running to come and live in Belize.
The native Maya, Aztecs and other indigenous people of the Americas were slaughtered by the Spanish Conquistadors and up to this day these people’s human rights are being violated every day by these countries’ governments, causing them to go and live in Belize.
The Xateros in Guatemala could be stopped by the Guatemalan military if the Guatemalan government wanted to stop them. The Belize Defence soldier, Pvt Teul was careless in not keeping and carrying his service rifle with him in his possession at all times.
Still, that does not give the Xateros the right to come into Belizean territory and inflict harm on this soldier. If he had his service rifle and shot the Xateros the Guatemalan government would be at the OAS and the United Nations filing a protest against Belize like they always do.
What they are doing on Belizean soil they cannot do in their own country because the Guatemalan soldiers would shoot them down like dogs without any questions asked.
With all these constitutional amendments taking place in Belize right now, our government should consider including a clause in our constitution that only a natural born Belizean citizen can become the prime minister of Belize. With the rate this migration is going, there is a strong possibility that our Prime Minister could be a Guatemalan born citizen who would give Guatemala enough leverage to have exclusive rights and privileges in Belize.
It is not only the Guatemalans that have vested interest in Belize but there are other people from other countries also. We need to put certain safeguards in place while we have the votes and the power to do so, before it is too late where we will have to suffer consequences for our complacency and lack of vision. | | | | Reads : 1112 | | | |
|
|
