UN General Assembly
1963

20. Guatemala views with great satisfaction the efforts being made within the United Nations to bring certain territories gradually to self-government, provided this does not impair the territorial integrity of other States Members of the United Nations. 21. Our country has a grievous experience in its history: we have seen our sovereignty over a large part of our territory usurped by a colonial Power —the United Kingdom. I refer to Belize —wrongly called British Honduras— an establishment on the shores of the Caribbean which was founded solely on the basis of timber concessions granted to British lumbermen by the Spanish Crown which were later extended beyond their original limits and beyond the intentions of those who had granted them. The only rights which the British had in Belize before independence were as holders of wood-cutting concessions, sovereignty being expressly reserved by Spain. Guatemala, which, as the State succeeding to the Spanish rights in the region, inherited the territory of Belize, and consequently the problem of usurpation by the United Kingdom, embarked on a struggle against a powerful State in an unequal contest which has continued to the present day.