After weeks of planning, two groups that have not always seen eye to eye came together at the Sarstoon with one shared purpose: reaffirming Belize’s sovereignty. The Belize Territorial Volunteers and the Belize Coast Guard joined forces for this year’s annual flag-planting expedition, with support from the Belize Defense Force. During the September Celebrations, participants travelled to Belize’s southern border to plant the national flag and reinforce the country’s territorial claim. Coast Guard Commandant Rear Admiral Gregory Soberanis says direct talks among the three groups allowed them to coordinate the mission and agree on how it would unfold.
Gregory Soberanis
Rear Admiral Gregory Soberanis, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
“That an initiative where members of the BTV sat with members of the Belize Defense Force and the Belize Coast Guard and planned how we were going to execute. And it was executed in the manner that we had planned and so we are proud that we were able to pull it off with no incidents.”
Reporter
“I imagine this is going to be the standard operating procedure going forward given the increasing confrontational posture of the Guatemalans, bringing out civilian vessels as well. Do you anticipate that that’s what we’re going to do going forward? We’re not gonna get to go around the Sarstoon and to?”
Rear Admiral Gregory Soberanis
“Well, every year we just we will not forecast. We don’t want to presume anything. We’ll take it year by year and then we’ll see how things unfold. And based on how things unfold as we reach a time like this year, we plan accordingly for how we are going to execute.”
Guatemalan vessels and civilians crowded the Sarstoon River, but that did not stop Belizean authorities and the Belize Territorial Volunteers from raising the flag at the Forward Operating Base.
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