Belizean Independence
Belize, administered as the colony of British Honduras, moved toward independence more slowly than most of Britain's Caribbean and Central American possessions because of a long-standing Guatemalan claim to the entire territory, dating to nineteenth-century disputes over an 1859 boundary treaty. Talks aimed at settling the dispute before independence produced the Heads of Agreement, initialled on 11 March 1981, but the proposals were denounced by hardline factions in Guatemala as a sellout, and the Guatemalan government withdrew from negotiations without ratifying them. The United Kingdom proceeded regardless, and Belize became fully independent on 21 September 1981 under the Belize Act 1981, with British forces remaining stationed in the country to deter any Guatemalan military move. Guatemala refused to recognise the new state, the only United Nations member to do so, and maintained its territorial claim over roughly half of Belize's land area for over a decade before finally recognising Belizean independence in 1992; the underlying boundary dispute remains unresolved into the twenty-first century, with both countries eventually referring it toward the International Court of Justice.
- Year: 1981 CE
- Category: Political
