The Curious Case of Belize's Independence

Belize gained independence from Britain, its colonial overseer, in 1981. The independence movement in Belize, which had its first seeds planted in the wake of a devastating hurricane in 1931 in which the British government did not provide adequate assistance, truly began in 1950 when the British devalued the Belize dollar.

So why did Belize miss the wave of independence that swept across Africa and Asia throughout the 1950s and 1960s? The reason was that Guatemala claimed the entirety of Belize as its own. If the British withdrew, Guatemala's powerful U.S.-backed military would sweep into Belize and take the land for its own.

The dispute began in the wake of an 1859 treaty between Britain and Guatemala. Britain believed the treaty was of a boundary variety while the Guatemalans believed it was one of cession. Britain wanted to grant Belize, called British Honduras before 1973, independence, but was willing to cede some land to Guatemala to quell any impetus for invasion.

Belize's leaders, such as George Price, demanded independence with the entirety of Belize in tact. They also wanted a sustained British defense guarantee. The British were reluctant to defend the Belizeans against a potential Guatemalan invasion.

Finally, through a policy of gaining support from such international organizations as CARICOM and the non-aligned movement, Price was able to convince Britain to grant full independence to Belize and guard its sovereignty in 1981. Though the Guatemalan land claim issue has been sidelined, even now, it isn't closed.

Guatemala-U.S. Relations

A revelation has recently come out that the U.S. gave Guatemalan prisoners and mental patients were intentionally given syphilis during the mid 1940s. It is just one shameful event in the history of U.S.-Guatemalan relations.

In response to a land reform act passed in 1952, the CIA conspired to overthrow Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz. The coup began a long relationship between the U.S. government and the Guatemalan military. The Guatemalan army ran a four decade-long war against Mayan guerillas. However, the army killed Mayan civilians with no ties to the guerillas. Entire villages were razed. The worst offenses occurred during the early 1980s. U.S. President Ronald Reagan praised General Efrain Rios Montt, the head of state and perpetrator of a dramatic rise in the violence, as a true democrat.

The evidence is in. Yet, to present the evidence is to unduly criticize the United States in the eyes of mainstream political discourse. To question America's intentions as anything but noble is to be considered anti-American. The stakes, as exhibited in Guatemala, is the fate of millions of people.