Former Foreign Minister Lisa Shoman Says Her Successor Has Messed Up

Lisa Shoman

Is the political quagmire that Belize presently finds itself in with Guatemala made worse by the foreign minister’s apparent lack of personality?  It’s a question that was posed to his predecessor during a press conference held by the People’s United Party on Monday.  According to former Foreign Minister Lisa Shoman, the existing state of affairs is simply the result of mismanagement.

Lisa Shoman, Opposition Representative, Bipartisan Commission

“The problem is not the personality of ‘Sedi’ Elrington.  The problem is the management of this U.D.P. administration of a strategy and policy that had been painstakingly crafted and carried out.  There was, as you know, a bipartisan commission which was dealing with matters and what we saw was after the Guatemalans had actually dropped their promise to proceed to referenda, from there we saw a series of steps that were taken which did not lead to better relations and which, in fact, as the past year and a half has shown, has embolden the Guatemalans to increasingly act aggressively towards Belizean civilians and even Belizean military.  Jules, I have been on the Bipartisan Commission and before me [was] Eamon Courtenay and we can tell you that the briefs in the past four years from the National Security Council have been non-existent.  It came as much as a shock to me as it did to the Belizean public to be told that weekly the B.D.F. are being harassed by Guatemalan military forces on the Sarstoon that they are being threatened to be shot at and rammed.  And I think when you start to add the trajectory you see where the management of this matter has fallen so far short that we are where we are.”

News Five has attempted to reach Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington on several occasions for comment on the matter.  All efforts have proven fruitless.