Belizean–Guatemalan territorial dispute
There is an unresolved territorial dispute between the states of Belize (formerly known as British Honduras) and Guatemala, neighbours in Central America.
The treaty stated that Guatemala would recognise British sovereignty over the region and formed the modern-day boundary lines of Belize.
Less than 10 years later, Guatemala renewed its claims on the area, using the broken promise of the road as justification for the 1859 treaty to be void.
Britain stationed troops in British Honduras to secure the region against Guatemalan invasion and many negotiations attempting to resolve the dispute took place over the following decades.
In 1999, however, Guatemala shifted its stance back to inheriting claims from the Spanish Empire and the Federal Republic of Central America.
In 2008, Guatemala and Belize made a pact to have simultaneous referendums for their voters to send the issue to the International Court of Justice.
After Mayan tribes had massacred Spanish conquistadors and missionaries in Tipu and surrounding areas, shipwrecked English seamen, then English and Scottish Baymen, settled by 1638, with a short military alliance with native residents of the Mosquito Coast south of Belize, and often welcoming former British privateers.
[3]: 196–197 English settlers were already in the territory when the treaty was signed, but was not exclusively under British control either, which gave room for Spain to claim sovereignty over the region.
[4]: 111 The 1786 Anglo-Spanish Convention was signed to extend the logging border down to the Sibun river and the ability to settle in the nearby St. George's Caye as long as no forts were built and no troops were on the island.
[3]: 247 : 249 All of the aforementioned treaties also specified that the territory could be used only for logging and scavenging within the areas outlined, that Spanish sovereignty still existed in the region and that local government was only to be established for maintaining peace, not for civil nor military purposes.
Also in the 1820s, the Baymen had expanded as far south as the Sarstoon River, and much farther west, violating the boundaries of the treaties Britain had agreed to.
[13] The Rio Hondo was picked as the boundary line between British Honduras and Mexico, solidifying the "Mexican frontier" portion of the 1859 border and providing some legitimacy to the colony.
The Guatemalan Ministry For Foreign Affairs accepted that these markers were built and defined "part of the boundary line".
Britain, in August 1936, counter offered with half the original 1859 price but no interest and recognition of the 1859 border, which Guatemala did not accept.
[16]: 237 In February 1948, Guatemala threatened to invade and forcibly annex the territory, and the British responded by deploying two companies from 2nd Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment.
In 1957, responding to a Guatemalan threat to invade, a company of the Worcestershire Regiment was deployed, staying briefly and carrying out jungle training before leaving.
On 21 January 1958, a force of pro-Guatemalan fighters from the Belize Liberation Army, who had likely been aided and encouraged by Guatemala, crossed the border and raised the Guatemalan flag.
[2][18] Negotiations between the United Kingdom and Guatemala began again in 1961, but the elected representatives of British Honduras had no voice in these talks.
George Price refused an invitation from Guatemalan President Ydígoras Fuentes to make British Honduras an "associated state" of Guatemala.
In British Honduras, the public were in civil unrest after hearing the proposals, which led the United Kingdom to reject the draft.
A series of meetings, begun in 1969, ended abruptly in 1972 when the United Kingdom, in response to intelligence suggesting an imminent Guatemalan invasion, announced it was sending the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and her air wing (Phantom FG.1s and Blackburn Buccaneers) alongside 8,000 troops to Belize to conduct amphibious exercises.
[18] At this point, the Belizean and British governments, frustrated at dealing with the military-dominated regimes in Guatemala, agreed on a new strategy that would take the case for self-determination to various international forums.
The Belizean representatives to the talks made no concessions, and a proposal, called the Heads of Agreement, was initialled on 11 March 1981.
[citation needed] When far-right political forces in Guatemala labelled the proposals as a sell-out, the Guatemalan government refused to ratify the agreement and withdrew from the negotiations.
[citation needed] The demonstrations resulted in four deaths, many injuries, and damage to the property of the People's United Party leaders and their families.
[28] Britain continued to maintain British Forces Belize to protect the country from Guatemala, consisting of an army battalion and No.
[32] In February 2000, a Belizean patrol shot and killed a Guatemalan in the area of Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve in Belize.
[33] In September 2005, Belize, Guatemala and the OAS signed the Confidence Building Measures document, committing the parties to avoid conflicts or incidents on the ground conducive to tension between them.
[37] Guatemala was initially expected to hold its referendum on the issue during its second round of presidential elections in October 2015, but such a vote was not on the ballot.
"[38] On 20 April 2016, tensions rose as Belizean forces fatally shot a 13/14-yr old Guatemalan teenager and resulted in a border standoff.
