Guatemala votes to ask U.N. court to resolve Belize border spat

[Saint Furrybutt]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-guatemala-referendum-border-belize/guatemala-votes-to-ask-u-n-court-to-resolve-belize-border-spat-idUSKBN1HN0EN

[smurfy]

Awesome move. The ICJ is a dusty old market stall like "ladies and gentlemen step right up, resolve your disputes nonviolently in a court of law", doesn't get enough use

[Griff]

For those that don't know, Guatemala's claims are this:

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/1750/e3abad6c-8398-478d-bd03-1cd3cc390a59/image.png

[U-Lander]

I did quite a bit of reading on the establishment of Belize back in university and it is incredible that this conflict has persisted this long. The de jure claims on Belize are based in dusty old Spanish colonial rights to the region and I'm surprised the weight of the British Empire never crushed lil Guatemala's claims before Belize became independent.

[F.X Clampazzo]

Guatemala should maybe consider fixing their own shithole of a country before trying to take claim to half of their neighbour's.

[gman003-main]

Here's a question: what do the people in the disputed territory want? It sounds to me like they want to remain Belizean but it's ultimately their decision to make.

[Ravenholme]

Latin American countries have a thing about believing claims dating back to the Spanish colonial era trump the rights and wants of the inhabitants of the areas they believe they, as "successors" to Spain, should have.