Social Issues In Belize

The beautiful, small country of Belize is located in Central America between Guatemala and Mexico; the unfortunate reality, however, is the identity crisis that Belize struggles with. Belize identifies economically and culturally with the Caribbean Islands despite its residence in Central America due to the ever changing cultural diversity it faces (The Central America Fact Book 177). The population of Belize, comprised of 160,000 inhabitants, has a vibrant mixture of several ethnic backgrounds, from Native Americans to German speaking citizens. The country is largely inhabited by mixed European and black descendants, known as Creoles. Creoles and Spanish-speaking mestizos, are two of the larger ethnic groups that make most of the population of Belize. Moreover, there are an influx of refugees from Guatemala and El Salvador, causing the numbers of the Spanish-speaking population to rise exponentially by approximately 47,000 (178). With the large

First and foremost, Guatemala and Belize are geographically near each other and inevitably there has been disputes amongst both on obtaining territory. Guatemala claims Belize as its territory, however, Belize depends greatly on Great Britain to protect them against any potential Guatemalan invasion for territory. The notion of dependency on the British military protectorate is counter-intuitive on Belize’s part, in that British imperialists were not welcomed in the early 1900’s during the slave trade. Moreover, Belize is fearful of the British military removing troops from the forefront against Guatemala, but ultimately this may bring in the United States military (180). On top of the territorial dispute Belize faces, the economic disparity that Belize is reconciled with is due to