Dr. Gilda Lewis, a well respected academic and researcher on the Belize–Guatemala territorial dispute, has been appointed Chairperson of the Belize Advisory Council. The Advisory Council on the Guatemalan Claim has provided guidance and advice to Belize’s negotiating team during past deliberations. It is currently engaged in developing and supporting a public education program to prepare the Belizean public for a national referendum that will determine whether the issue of the Guatemalan claim to Belizean territory should be referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Before any case on the Belize-Guatemala dispute can be taken to the ICJ, the Belize Government must, by law, have a national referendum, so that Belizeans can say whether they agree with the ICJ deciding such a critical and sensitive national question. The Belize government awaits the outcome of this as it completes its own preparation for parliamentary approval of the national referendum in Belize.
Guatemala claims “4,000 square miles of Belize, as well as the cayes,” are Guatemalan territory. The Organization of American States (OAS) continues to be the overseer of talks between Belize and Guatemala, even after an extended attempt under the OAS auspices to solve the dispute via diplomacy has failed.
Dr. Lewis is a former university professor. She was an individual member of the Belize Advisory Council since its inception and is the President of the Girl Guides Association of Belize. She was also an independent candidate in the 1998 national elections in Belize.
For press release, see http://www.governmentofbelize.gov.bz/press_release_details.php?pr_id=5610
For more information on the Belize–Guatemala territorial dispute, see http://www.sjc.edu.bz/belizeanstudies/index.php?action=view&id=47§ion=8&module=newsmodule&src=%40random48befcbfbe58c and http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=14769
Photo of Amergris Caye, Belize, from http://www.ecoflight.info/gallery.html?id_cat=14
