The sun is dipping into the horizon over the town to the west, away from the Caribbean, in a deep red haze. It almost looks like it's from volcanic ash or from forest fires. We often get these sunsets in Minnesotan summers when the American West is up in flames. It turns out, the haze isn't anything of the sort, but sand. Sand blowing across the Atlantic from the Sahara Desert of Africa. That same dust that built the smaller antillies islands of the Caribbean and also spawns hurricanes also makes for awesome sunsets here. 

I was told this by my new friend who owns the Rum Punch Seaside Guest House. They claim to have the best coffee in Belize. It's how I came in the front door, actually, and I ended up staying after some amazing conversations and perspectives on the country of Belize from my new friend, the owner.

WHY?

Belize doesn't fit in Latin America. In fact, if you go by the definition of Latin America being a nation that speaks a language spawned from Latin, Belize is anything but. English is the official language and the primary language of public education, though spoken natively by a minority of people as a first language. Spanish is second, followed by Belizian Creole which always makes my head spin when it's thrown at me.

Belize boasts an incredible mix of people, from their resident ex-pat white populations escaping the West, to descendants of slaves that speak creole. Refugees from wars in Mexico brought many Spanish speakers, and of course you have the Maya who have always been here. Arabs and Asians have been added to the mix, along with a robust Mennonite population, folks of mostly German descent who wear 19th century farm clothes and live in rural communities closed off from the world. There's been controversies regarding the Mennonites dealing cocaine and running drugs, known as the Mennonite Mafia. Their closed-off communities free of many kinds of technology are surprisingly well-attuned to it.

((I had the idea of a Mennonite night club called 'Mennonights' that has brought me great social success here in Belize))

Belize is still a part of the British Crown. Like Canada, parliament in London has no power here, but the king in London still is Belize's head of state. Queen Elizabeth II is still on all of their money- every single note and coin. When I was in Canada that queen died, and I remember the news going around asking people and polling whether or not Canada should be independent from the crown. A few commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand are thinking of doing the same in this time of transition from Queen to King.

I asked my new friend if Belize had a similar movement. She laughed and said "No. Absolutely not." I wondered if it was because of the royal family's popularity or if it was even constitutionally possible. She just looked out over the warm celestial  waters and said, "It's because of Guatemala."


THE LOOMING THREAT OF GUATEMALA

Guatemala is Belize's unfriendly neighbor. This isn't because of racism or any sort of sports rivalry, it's because of old colonial land claims. Belize shouldn't really exist according to Guatemala, and they have more than enough manpower and economic might to take Belize on. Belize's ties to Britain have kept the two nations at a kind of cold war stalemate. A 'frozen conflict.' Guatemala will not back down from their land claims either.

Belize is much smaller than I thought in so many ways. Guatemala is 5X the size of Belize, but it also boasts 42X the population. Guatemala also has 34X the economy of Belize in GDP. Belize is a small, loosely associated group of communities clinging together while Guatemala City lies looming in the highlands beyond the Central American jungles to its west.

So what's the story? Well, Spain has always had a claim over what is today's Belizian borders back during the colonial era. British settlers were granted permits to farm and use the land in today's Belize and they multiplied. I think of it kind of how Mexico initially allowed Americans to settle in Texas and how that lead to Texas wanting independence.

Anyway, Napoleon happened and Spain began to grant independence to all of it's American land holdings, including Central America. When that happened, Guatemala gained independence and it still claimed the land in Belize. Spain never made an effort to settle the region, and neither had Guatemala. They just kind of figured it was their own. Belize had a long-standing English-speaking (and creole) population there for quite some time.

Eventually things got complicated, because the folks that lived there were British subjects under a land that Guatemala said was their own. To resolve this, Guatemala and the Empire of Britain got together and signed the Wyke-Aycinena treaty in 1851. It had 2 parts:

--Today's current borders were drawn.

--A road had to be built between the two nations. 

The road would give Belize access to the Pacific for trade, and Guatemala would improve its reach in the Caribbean. This road was in dispute for too many years because neither country could agree on where to put it. Later, when the government had changed in Guatemala in 1871, and the new government declared the treaty void because the road was not built.

This caused problems for more than a century. Occasionally, Guatemala had threatened to invade, but they would back down at the sight of UK military reinforcements. Eventually, the British made Belize a crown colony known as "British Honduras," and later, in 1981, Belize gained 'independence' from Great Britain (although they still have the king as the monarch) and Guatemala was still denied their land claims.

As a new country, Belize applied to be a part of the UN and Guatemala was the only "no" vote.

Today the two nations still trade and have a soft border between them, but there's some ill will between the populations. 

So again, when I asked my new Belizian friend if there was a movement to remove the King as the monarch of Belize she laughed. Because Guatemala would surely threaten to, and quite possibly could, invade.


-JT

5/2/2023