...The incident unfolded (click title to entry - thank you) at approximately 11:05 a.m. today, Monday.
Major Roches explained that the BDF conducts routine “linkups” with Guatemala about three times a month, as part of Confidence Building Measures between both countries, done under the auspices of the Organization of American States.
Under the program, the Guatemalans and Belizeans exchange information on the events taking place on both sides of the border. However, the BDF ended up abandoning today’s “linkup” mission, Roches reported.
He told us in an interview this evening that while the BDF soldiers were “on patrol at the ‘linkup’ position; …doing their security of the area”, they saw 5 Guatemalans coming across the borderline into Belize. “One of them had an AK-47 assault rifle,” he recounted, “and the others had short arms along with machetes. The Security Century [the patrol group]...asked the individuals to halt.”
According to Roches, the illegal Guatemalans reached for their weapons: “At that point, the security team, BDF, had to open fire at the individual who pulled the assault rifle. It is believed that one person got injured, because they saw this individual fall and the others grabbed that individual and pulled him in the bush, “ he said....
This is AT LEAST the second such incident along the border. It is getting to be a habit that the Guatemalans are abandoning their agreement and allowing violence to intimidate the Belizean Defense Force.
This is AT LEAST the second such incident along the border. It is getting to be a habit that the Guatemalans are abandoning their agreement and allowing violence to intimidate the Belizean Defense Force.
