O.A.S. confirms removal of bodega from Belizean soil

We reported last night that a container previously erected by Guatemalan Leonel Arellano had been successfully dismantled from the village of Jalacte and moved to Guatemalan territory. The issue had been a particularly thorny one for G.O.B. because Arellano who hails from the nearby village of Santa Cruz, El Peten, had defiantly threatened to attack the security forces if the bodega was moved, causing the government to stay its hands. Today, the OAS in Washington posted a release on its website confirming the removal of the container by G.O.B. without incident and according to the regional body under whose supervision the coordinated removal was carried out this last Wednesday, verification of the exact location of the bodega was carried four times beginning last November 2008. The pictures show O.A.S. Representative at the Adjacency Zone, Miguel Angel Trinidad, talking to Arellano in the presence of the Belize and Guatemalan security forces. Also present were the Ombudsperson, Cynthia Pitts, and office of the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission.