Patrol May Still Be Responsible For Teen’s Death

David Jones

The O.A.S. investigation confirms that the incident occurred within the Adjacency Zone administered by Belize. On the twentieth of April, Julio Alvarado was killed and his father and brother were injured. The report points out that it is not the first time that the minor was inside the Cebada area of the Chiquibul, while the joint patrol of B.D.F. soldiers and rangers from the Friends of Conservation and Development were active. Jones confirms that the injuries came from the patrol, but not the B.D.F.

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander, B.D.F.

“It’s more than likely the shots that the minor sustained were from the patrol. The evidence that I have seen on the news clearly indicate that there was firing guns from where they were towards the patrol and clearly there were shots that were fired from our patrol to where the young man was. It’s an unfortunately incident, it is regrettable and I would want to believe that such incident should be prevented and from here onwards, we’d like to see measures being taken so that such incidents are prevented. And for that to happen, it requires cooperation from our Guatemalan counterparts. These people need to be educated on where the border line is between Belize and Guatemala and they need to understand that if they cross into Belizean territory, they will be under Belizean jurisdiction and Belizean law. We are not going to stop patrolling that area; we are going to continue because it is part of our mandate to secure and maintain the sovereignty and integrity of Belizean land.”