Belmopan - 02 January, 2001.

The Government of Belize has invited the Government of the Republic of Guatemala to participate in a process of verification and removal of 221 Guatemalan Nationals discovered by a BDF patrol on January 1, 2001 at Machaquila, Columbia Forest Reserve in the Toledo District, approximately 1.8 kilometers inside Belize.

A 72-hour period for joint verification commenced at 3 PM today at the end of which an Order to Leave Belize within 72 hours will be issued to the illegal settlers.

An invitation for the participation as an observer of Guatemala's Human Rights Commissioner has been conveyed to that Government.

The Human Rights Commission of Belize has also been invited to participate as an observer in the process of verification and removal of the Guatemalan nationals.

In a similar situation, a process of joint verification of another illegal settlement of Guatemalan Nationals has been initiated.

This settlement of 104 persons was discovered on December 19, 2000 at Rio Blanco in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve.

The Government of Belize indicated to the Guatemalan Government its preparedness, on humanitarian grounds, and as a gesture of goodwill, to pursue verification and removal of the illegal settlers following the provisions of the Agreement on Confidence Building Measures signed in Washington D.C. on November 8, 2000.

This is even though the illegal settlement is located more than 1 kilometer inside Belize and not in the adjacency zone established by the Agreement; and therefore the Government of Belize was not obliged to follow the process for verification and removal outlines in the Agreement.

The Government of Belize has nevertheless invited the respective Facilitators Sir Shridath Ramphal for Belize and Mr. Paul Reichler for Guatemala, to name investigators to carry out a fact finding mission within one week, to determine whether the settlers are protected under the Agreement or not and if not to provide a mechanism for their orderly removal.