Belize and Guatemala Spar over Sarstoon River Border
BELIZE · DIPLOMACY
Key Facts
- —What happened Guatemalan boats turned back a Belizean civilian flotilla on the Sarstoon, the river dividing the two countries.
- —Who is involved Belize, a small English-speaking country in Central America, and its much larger neighbor Guatemala.
- —How big Guatemala claims about 11,000 square kilometers of Belizean land, plus islands and stretches of sea.
- —Who it hits People who live and fish along the Sarstoon risk being caught up in any military incident.
- —The catch The letter changes nothing on the ground, and the court has not set a date for hearings.
- —What comes next The United Nations court in The Hague will decide. Both countries promise to accept the ruling.
Belize and Guatemala are at odds again over the Sarstoon, a narrow river on their shared border. The judges who will settle it sit in The Hague.
Fourteen Guatemalan boats met a small civilian flotilla on the Sarstoon River on 10 September and turned it back. Belize and Guatemala have argued over that water since 1859.
The trip that never reached the island
Once a year the Belize Territorial Volunteers sail down the Sarstoon and raise the Belize flag on an island there. On 10 September they did not get that far.
Greater Belize Media counted 14 Guatemalan vessels blocking the group’s route to Sarstoon Island. Nobody was hurt and nothing escalated, Belizean Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca said.
Fonseca answered with paper. Belize will send Guatemala a diplomatic note recording what he called its absolute objection.
Belize does not recognize Guatemalan authority over the Sarstoon, he said, and sends a note after every incident. The notes show how seriously Belize takes its border.
By 14 September, Guatemala’s government had said nothing in public about it. Its last detailed statement on the Sarstoon came a year earlier.
A river with two owners
The Sarstoon is short and narrow. It runs along the southern edge of Belize, divides the two countries and empties into the Caribbean Sea.
Sarstoon Island sits near the mouth of the river. Belize administers it and counts it as Belizean territory.
Guatemala says the island is its own, and the whole river with it. Both countries have watched the water closely for years.
Belize traces the border down the middle of the river, following an 1859 treaty between Britain and Guatemala. North of that line, it says, the water is Belizean, and boats from both countries may use it.
In 2016 Guatemala’s foreign ministry put its position plainly: it had rejected the 1859 treaty. In September 2025 it accused Belizean troops of entering Guatemalan territory through the river and endangering civilians.
All of this happens in Toledo District, in the far south of Belize. It is a long way from the cayes that carry the country’s tourism economy.
What a note on paper can do
A diplomatic note is a formal letter from one government to another. It moves no border and compels nobody.
What it does is build a file. Every note Belize sends becomes a dated record that judges can read later.
Belize sent such letters after clashes on the river in 2015 and 2016. The two countries disagree about the Sarstoon exactly as they did then.
In 2025 Guatemalan flags appeared on Sarstoon Island. Belize lodged a formal protest at the highest level.
The case waiting in The Hague
Both governments long ago agreed to let someone else decide. In June 2019 they took the dispute to the International Court of Justice, the top court of the United Nations.
The court sits in The Hague, in the Netherlands. Both sides say they will treat its ruling as final.
What is on the table is large. Guatemala claims about 11,000 square kilometers of Belizean territory, along with islands and stretches of sea.
Guatemalan voters approved the court route in 2018, and Belizean voters in 2019. Each side then filed its written arguments.
The last filing was due in June 2023, and that stage closed. The court has not set a date for hearings.
The judges have let Guatemala join a separate Belizean case against Honduras over the Sapodilla Cayes. That is a side matter, not the main dispute.
The watchers on the water
On 1 September the two foreign ministers sat down with the head of the Organization of American States. They talked about how to prepare for the ruling.
The organization is a regional body that works on democracy and disputes across the Americas. It has kept a mission on this border since 2002.
That mission has examined more than 500 border incidents. Trouble on the Sarstoon keeps adding to the list.
CARICOM, the group of Caribbean countries that includes Belize, asked both sides in 2025 to agree a mechanism for the river. None has been announced.
The protocol nobody signed
There was once a plan for exactly that. In December 2014 the two countries signed a set of confidence-building agreements in Placencia.
A separate protocol for the Sarstoon was drafted alongside them. It was never adopted.
The draft said the river’s channels should stay open to both countries, without interference. It asked both armed forces to avoid threatening acts.
In 2018 Guatemala’s president at the time said his country had not gone ahead with it. Belize still asks for a working arrangement on the river.
Twelve years after Placencia, the boats still meet without a rulebook.
What comes next
Belize says it will keep sending notes after every incident. Guatemala says it will keep defending what it calls its territory.
Above that, the two capitals still talk. Fonseca says Prime Minister John Briceño speaks with Guatemala’s President Bernardo Arévalo.
Neither government has said when it expects a decision. Until one arrives, the Sarstoon stays a point of friction handled by notes, talks and patrols.
The volunteers make the trip once a year. That leaves both governments twelve months to agree how the river is used.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Sarstoon River?
The Sarstoon runs along the southern border of Belize. It separates Belize from Guatemala and flows into the Caribbean Sea.
Why do Belize and Guatemala argue about their border?
Guatemala claims about 11,000 square kilometers of Belizean territory. Belize relies on an 1859 treaty that Guatemala rejects.
Is Belize part of Guatemala?
No. Belize is an independent country. Guatemala claims a large part of it, and a United Nations court will settle the question.
When will the International Court of Justice rule?
No date has been announced. Written arguments closed in June 2023, and no hearings have been scheduled.
Sources: Based on reporting by Breaking Belize News, Greater Belize Media, Infobae and La Hora (EFE), plus statements from the Belize Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CARICOM and the International Court of Justice. https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2026/09/12/foreign-affairs-minister-says-belize-to-issue-diplomatic-note-following-sarstoon-blockage/ https://www.greaterbelize.com/fonseca-we-will-continue-to-have-this-issue-until-icj-rules/ https://www.infobae.com/guatemala/2026/09/14/gobierno-de-belice-presentara-una-nota-diplomatica-contra-guatemala-por-acciones-en-el-rio-sarstun/ https://lahora.gt/nacionales/agenciaefe/2026/09/02/guatemala-y-belice-preparan-con-apoyo-de-oea-la-fase-final-de-su-diferendo-territorial-now/ https://www.pressoffice.gov.bz/statement-by-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-3/ https://www.greaterbelize.com/breaking-guatemala-says-bdf-entered-its-territory-without-authorisation/ https://www.icj-cij.org/case/177 https://caricom.org/caricom-statement-on-border-incursions-on-belize-by-guatemala/
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief