There are two sizeable international arbitration awards staring the Government of Belize in the face. But the government is staring right back – without blinking. To foreign investors uninitiated in the ways of the Third World, it can come as a bit of a shock that a prime minister publicly declares he won’t honor an arbitration award and mean it.

The summit in Trinidad has rightly been described as a new dawn in the relationship between the US and Latin America and the Caribbean. The dawn is not what really matters. It’s how each country exploits that new day, the morning after the remnant echoes of calypso have faded into silence.

Belize cannot compete nor distinguish itself militarily, economically, industrially or scientifically. The field of sports is one of the only areas of human endeavor where it can realistically hope to achieve some measure of regional recognition. But it will have to accept a few home truths first.