Salvadoran Man Hacked to Death in Hope Creek

Kelvin Guerrero Hernandez

A Salvadoran farm hand who worked at the Marie Sharp farms in southern Belize was hacked to death on the eve of his birthday.  The forty-five year old, according to all accounts, was well-liked in the village of Hope Creek where he has been living since he made Belize his home.  Kelvin Guerrero Hernandez was with friends at Fuentes Billiards Bar; he had left the bar and sat across from the establishment when he was chopped to death. Police are looking for two suspects who drove up on motorcycle and ambushed Guerrero following an argument with him. News Five’s Hipolito Novelo reports. 

Hipolito Novelo, Reporting    

Salvadoran National Kelvin Guerrero Hernandez was hacked to death over the weekend. Hernandez, who was ecstatic to celebrate his forty-first birthday today, was sitting on this bench in Hope Creek Village when he was attacked and brutally killed. One of his attackers was armed with a sharp machete used to chop Hernandez to death. Police received the call at twelve-eight early on Saturday morning.

Supt. Hilberto Romero, Crimes Investigation Branch

“One the seventeenth day of August 2019 at around twelve eighteen am, Dangriga Police responded to a report of a chopping incident at Fuentes Billiards Bar located in Hope Creek, Stann Creek District where upon arrival they found the body of Kelvin Hernandez, of forty years with chop wounds.”

Hernandez had been living in Belize for a little over three years. He worked at the Marie Sharp farms along with his friend Yoni Avilez. Both men were at Fuentes Billiards, Hernandez’s favorite watering hole in the village before he was callously murdered.

Yoni Avilez

Yoni Avilez, Friend of Deceased [Translated]

“I told him lets go, let’s go home. He said, no I’ll stay here and relax a little bit more. Then I came home and I didn’t know what else happened from there.”

Hernandez remained. He later left Fuentes Billiards Bar to sit at a bench across the street. That is where an argument between Hernandez and another man ensued and ended in his demise.

Huber Solval, Friend of Deceased

“I heard it was outside because the bar was already closed. So I heard, I am not sure of this that he disputed with somebody outside of the bar. That person went home and came back supposedly, to kill him.”

Hilberto Romero

Supt. Hilberto Romero

“Investigations revealed that the deceased had an argument with another male person who left the area and thereafter the male person returned along with another person on a motorcycle. He got off the motorcycle and inflicted the chop wounds to the deceased. An investigation is being conducted at this time. We are looking for two suspects.”

Hernandez’s friends say they have no idea who would want him dead especially since he was seen as a friendly individual.

Hipolito Novelo

“Why would anyone want to hurt him or kill him?”

Huber Solval

Huber Solval

“That’s what I am wondering because he was a great guy. He never showed me any type of aggression or something like that, no. He was a kind man.  He was a great man. Sometimes I came to work here on Sundays and I didn’t bring any food. He would tell me to come and eat even though if it is only bread and beans but it is there for you to eat. Eat up, don’t worry about anything. That was his type of character, kind.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Hipolito Novelo.