Foreign Minister Fonseca Visits New Sarstoon FOB

Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca joined Minister of National Defense Florencio Marin Jr. in visiting the newly constructed Sarstoon Forward Operating Base on Thursday.  It was Fonseca’s first trip to that southernmost end since assuming the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade at the start of the year.  The Sarstoon FOB was previously built and inaugurated under the Barrow administration, but eventually fell into disrepair and the state of the facility was only made worse by the erosion that was taking place at the site.  The Government of Belize has since invested significantly in refurbishing the facility and yesterday, the soldiers presently assigned to the location welcomed the ministers and their C.E.O.s, including former Brigadier General Dario Tapia.

 

Dario Tapia, C.E.O., Ministry of National Defense

“Today’s visit is to orientate the foreign minister, the new foreign minister, Honorable Francis Fonseca, who recently took over the Foreign Affairs Ministry, for him to understand what the Sarstoon is all about.  We only hear [about] it and when we hear about it, it’s always on the news.  The thing is it’s important that the foreign minister and the CEO from Foreign Affairs, along with some other members of his staff at Foreign Affairs, to have a firsthand look at what transpires here and what it’s all about to be out here at the Sarstoon.  So we are glad that he was able to visit, along with my minister, to be here along with Commander BDF and others to see what is occurring now at the newly transformed forward operating base. Many Belizeans would recall that about a year or so ago, my minister, on his tour, visited here and he was appalled at the living conditions of our soldiers and he then made the decision to relocate the soldiers temporarily until we were able to rebuild this facility which we have now done.  We have spent a significant amount of money, as approved by Cabinet, to have the FOB at a very livable standard and if when you walked around, you would see the improvements that we have done here.  Not only in the living facility, but in the kitchen facility, the restroom.  In addition to that, the earthworks that have been done here is very significant.  We have been able to stabilize the ground here, put boulders to stop the erosion that was occurring here.  We have built a marina that is about to completed and also the landing site for the helicopter that can land here, which we have tested and we have landed the Belize Defense Force helicopter here.  And so the transformation has been tremendous from what it was a few months ago, to what it is now.