Assad Shoman Response to Lindsay Belisle’s Theory

Assad Shoman

In January Former Boundary Commissioner Lindsay Belisle made his media rounds voicing his complete opposition in taking the Guatemalan claim to the International Court of Justice.  According to Belisle taking the dispute for the I.C.J. to rule on is too risky because the 1859 Treaty does not give a title to Belize’s eight-eight-sixty-seven square miles. According to Belisle, the treaty describes only some six-thousand-seven-hundred square miles of Belize. Founder of Citizens for the Defense of Sovereignty, Assad Shoman responds to Belisle’s theory.

Assad Shoman, Citizens for the Defence of Sovereignty

“I heard that said and I wondered how he expects Guatemala and Britain to sign a treaty defining Mexican frontier with Belize. I don’t understand that. Can you explain? I mean do you understand how Britain and Guatemala are to sign a treaty which defines the Mexican frontier with Belize? I don’t understand it. I am sorry. I am not a surveyor.”

Marleni Cuellar

“But you are ‘Belize’s expert’ on this issue. Does this open up to any vulnerability?”

Assad Shoman

“Of course not. I think the man was being kind. He was making sure that whoever to the Hague to fight the case, they put in both treaties, the 1857 and the 1893. We thank him for that reminder.”