Guatemala votes on border row to be referred to ICJ

AFP
Guatemala City
Guatemalan voters were being called out Sunday to decide whether the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should rule on a border dispute with neighboring Belize whose roots go back more than 200 years.
The long-running disagreement has seen tensions spike from time to time, such as two years ago when Guatemala mobilized 3,000 troops along the densely forested unmarked border zone after a border incident in which a Guatemalan teen was fatally shot.
A Belize border patrol had opened fire but an investigation by the Organization of American States ended up finding it not responsible for the death. The referendum was agreed under a 2008 accord to send the dispute to The Hague-based ICJ, if the populations of Guatemala and Belize approved.