DEMANDS ON BELIZE CITED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000400150012-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: January 13, 1983
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified and Approved ForRelease 2012709/13 :-)CIA-RDPb8001297R000400150012-1
VI. 14 Jan 83
P 9 CENTRAL AMERICA
We must [word indistinct] in a different way. We must find a different way. I think
this time we got [words indistinct]. [end recording]
The Guatemalan president said he can't yet say when he will relinquish power, in answer
to a question on whether this would occur in 1985, as Foreign Minister Eduardo
Castillo Arriola said recently.
[Begin Recording] [Question indistinct]
[Answer] I can't yet say when. I myself asked why they had said 1985 instead of 1984.
You see what I mean? I don't like to lie. I'm being placed in an uncomfortable
situation since I am going to tell the truth to the Guatemalan people. The truth is
that on 23 March 1983 we will place very clearly defined laws at the people's disposal.
This will provide us with a constituent assembly which in turn and within (?the process)
will gradually provide us with a timetable for the solution of our political problems.
[end recording]
General Rios Montt also said that at the next election, groups of socialist persuasion
will be able to participate as long as they do so through the vote.
[Begin recording] [Question in progress] ...policy banning acceptance of either the
candidacy or the registration of a party of socialist persuasion?
[Answer] I think that in a democracy every tendency must have an option, as long as
this is done through votes rather than through bullets. Through the use of bullets,
nobody will have any rights. [end recording]
Rios Montt also announced the possibility of annulling the political parties prior
to 23 March, when new political laws will be promulgated. [Begin Recording] we are
studying this. I think it would be advisable, but the possibility is currently being
studied. We will computerize the names of all Guatemalan citizens entitled to vote. You can
present a political party and we will computerize it. If an individual wants to go
back on his decision, we will annul his (?committee). [Words indistinct] [end
recording]
President Rios Montt also said there will be more political parties and that there is
the intention to create a legal instrument enabling the people to choose the future
president who best suits them.
[Begin recording] We think the current administration's purpose is not to turn its
back on a people who deserve respect. We are working in order to guarantee to the
people the validity of their opinions. We will create legal instruments to allow
Guatemala to choose whatever president they want. We will create the necessary
bodies to ensure justice and respect. [end recording]
fsts -LAM- (0 --o
Demands on Belize Cited
PA131931 Paris AFP in Spanish 1818 GMT 13 Jan 83
[Text] Guatemala, 13 Jan (AFP) -- Guatemalan President Gen Efrain Rios Montt today
announced that he "has adopted a new position"onthe problem of Belize but that "at
no time are we going to recognize the independent state."
Rios, whose government renews negotiations on the subject with Great Britain on
24 January, explained that Guatemala now demands only the return of "the district of
Toledo, so that it will become part of our territory."
Guatemala had demanded the former British colony as its own for more than 100 years,
Rios said, and we have always sought a peaceful solution with Britain.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08001297R000400150012-1
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08001297R000400150012-1
VI. 14 Jan 83
P 8 CENTRAL AMERICA
[Begin recording] [Question] [by unidentified correspondent] Do you care to comment
on the U.S. Government's appointment of an ambassador to Belize?
[Answer] No, I don't care to comment on that.
[Question indistinct]
[Answer] The U.S. Government's stand does not worry us too much because of a number of
Latin American countries, (?which we know) to have similar problems to ours have done
it; they have recognized Belize without sending in any ambassadors, but then that is a
secondary matter anyway. [Words indistinct] by the United States is also a matter of
secondary importance. We maintain the litigation because there is no border. [end
recording]
Still on the subject of the conflict over Belize, President Rios Montt said categori-
cally that under Guatemala's new policy on this problem, his government would be satis-
fied with a part of that territory, more specifically, with an outlet to the sea on
the side of Toledo.
[Begin recording] [Rios Montt] There is a very particular situation concerning
Belize; it turns out that under the Law of the Sea, which is currently being approved
in a number of conferences, there are certain limitations. If we recognized Belize,
from a tactical standpoint we would become a landlocked territory without any outlet
to the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, we (?have neither recognized) British Honduras nor
do we plan to recognize it in the future.
[Question] I don't think that represents any change [in Guatemala's stand]
[Answer] There is a very big difference; in the past we were claiming the entire
territory, now we are not.
[Question indistinct]
[Answer] That is how it must be. [Passage indistinct]...the entire concept has
changed. We will view it from both an ethnical and a geographical standpoint, as well
as from the standpoint of our security. Toledo is what Guatemala is claiming.
Further on, President Rios Montt said that the U.S. Government's decision to lift its
embargo on military aid to Guatemala is really no help, since any purchase made must
be paid for in cash. The president added that due to the lack of foreign exchange,
his government has not decided to buy weapons from the U.S. Government. On the con-
trary, he said, if it were possible, Guatemala would buy tractors, seeds and other
agricultural supplies.
[Begin recording, in progress] [Rios Montt]...economic (?to buy) tractors, seeds and,
what's the name of those things used to feed plants?
[Several voices respond] fertilizer.
[Rios Montt] Fertilizers and agricultural supplies. That would be very useful.
[Question indistinct]
[Answer] I don't have any money to buy weapons, and (?I said that this is not aid)
since I will pay cash. I don't have any money, so what do I want with this? I have
no foreign currency. (?That is a condition) and we don't have any foreign currency,
so we can't buy weapons. That is no aid; it is merely a market that has opened.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08001297R000400150012-1
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08001297R000400150012-1
VI. 14 Jan 83
P 11 CENTRAL AMERICA
[Question] It has been said that some 40,000 Guatemalan peasants have fled to Mexico
to escape repression in rural areas in your country. Can you tell us something about
this?
[Answer] It is true. The Mexican and international media have been reporting this.
It is a fact that the peasants have had to abandon their homes and take refuge in
Mexican territory to escape from the government's genocidal policy. They have done
this despite the poverty, hunger and hardship they must face in fleeing to Mexico.
[Question] To what extent is the unity of the Guatemalan leftist force a key factor
in the struggle against the Rios Montt regime?
[Answer] It is obvious that the Guatemalan regime's main adversary is the revolutionary
movement, which has to present a united front against the regime. When the Rios Montt
regime carries out its massacres it does not differentiate among the organizations.
In this respect, the response of the Guatemalan revolutionary movement should be unity
to show the Guatemalan people the path they must take for their total liberation.
HONDURAS
BOLIVIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO PAY 'WEEKEND' VISIT
PA121608 Tegucigalpa LA TRIBUNA in Spanish 11 Jan 83 p 32
[Excerpt] After stating that Honduras is not a member of the Nonaligned Movement,
PaZ,Barnica said: "We hope that the conferees at the meeting in Managua will act ,
objectively and democratically while analyzing the regions' problems and that their
deliberations will be directed toward real peace and democratization for those countries
lacking the same."
The foreign minister said that, taking advantage of the presence of several Latin
American foreign ministers in Managua, the Honduran Government invited several of them
to visit Honduras and that the Bolivian foreign minister is expected to visit this
weekend.
The foreign minister said that "much work to improve the image of Honduras at the
international level will occur this year," and he announced that he will travel to
Mexico, Venezuela, Panama and Colombia.
He also said a meeting is scheduled in Panama this year to again analyze the Forum
for Peace and Democracy, which was created in Costa Rica last year. "I believe all
Central American and Caribbean countries should be present at this meeting," the
foreign minister added.
In conclusion, the Honduran foreign minister said he will meet once again with
Salvadoran Foreign Minister Fidel Chavez Mena this week. "We will sit around a
negotiating table to discuss the border problems; we foreign ministers will preside
over the meeting." The foreign minister did not disclose where the meeting will be held
but did say it will be somewhere quiet, where work may be done in peace.
COSTA RICAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT 29 JANUARY
PA131311 San Pedro Sula TIEMPO in Spanish 11 Jan 83 p 9
[Text] Costa Rican Foreign Minister Fernando Volio Jimenez is scheduled to arrive
in Tegucigalpa on 29 January in response to an invitation from the government,
Rafael Lopez Garrido, Costa Rican ambassador to Honduras, confirmed yesterday.
1
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08001297R000400150012-1