Carlos Raul Morales Says Report is not Conclusive, Must Be Expanded

Carlos Raul Morales

By and large in the aftermath of the death of fourteen-year-old Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano, it was felt that the Guatemalan government was ahead in its campaign to internationalize their allegations that the B.D.F. killed the minor and in fact lacked professionalism. Well, Minister Morales is now rejecting the report by the experts on the grounds that it is not conclusive. He was asked what will be the next step by Guatemala.

Carlos Raul Morales, Foreign Minister, Guatemala [Translated]

“Firstly, we would request an expansion of the report because it comes down to the testimonies of the people who were involved in the incident. What it contains is the testimonies of the Belizean soldiers and the version of the N.G.O. that took part in the event. And it contains of course the testimony of the father and that of the brother of the boy that was killed. The report has to be expanded because when we received the body of the child it did not have bullets. It was clean. However, the autopsy done in Belize does not mention the caliber of the bullets found in the body.”

Reporter

“They could have manipulated all that?”

Carlos Raul Morales

“Yes, of course. Of course. there are a series of shortcomings. An investigation was to have taken place the following day and that did not happen. The investigation took place two months later. In any case, it’s a report. It’s not conclusive. The investigators did their best to clarify what they found there. What is regrettable is the immature way the Prime Minister of Belize made these comments. The only thing he has done is damage the bilateral relations between Belize and Guatemala. It’s regrettable.”