Dear Editor,

While it may seem that the article I wrote which appeared in Amandala’s July 13th/08 edition ends in presuming that Guatemala would have to be compensated by Great Britain under non-compliance of Article-7 of the 1859 Treaty, and not by the people or Government of Belize, it goes without saying that this should only happen if the World Court found a merit to Guatemala’s Claim.  As I stated in my article “If there is any merit to the Claim, then a penalty should be placed on Great Britain to compensate Guatemala.” I wish to underline here that I stated the words if there is any merit to the Claim.

On the other hand, if the World Court (International Court of Justice) does not find any merit to Guatemala’s Claim, and the matter is thrown out by the Court, Guatemala loses in the litigation, and will have to respect our Sovereignty with the borders as they are, and this would be binding on her.

Alejandro Vernon JP

July 22/08