Gunman shoots at taxi driver near the Western Border
The recognition of Belize by Guatemala as a sovereign nation earlier this decade was a major breakthrough in the centuries old dispute between the two countries. While the claim to Belizean territory still lingers, there continues to be steady stream back and forth across the border by citizens of both countries. But not all the visits from the other side are done through legal means and geography does not help the situation as I found out on a recent visit.
The highway between the Western Border and Benque Viejo Del Carmen, although only a mile long, has apparently become a bit unsafe for those who frequent the stretch of road. Just three days after the Hummingbird Highway hold up, a money changer returning from work at the border narrowly escaped injury at the hands of a would be robber.
Jacqueline Woods
“Adolfo Coyi was returning home and as he approached this mile post, an armed, mask man came out from these bushes and started firing.”
Coyi, who asked us not to show his face on TV, says it was his friend sitting in the passenger seat, who first spotted the gunman.
Adolfo Coyi
“The next guy who sit down in my car say, see that man come out with a gun. I say they will shoot me. At the same time I hear bow, bow about five times shot. But in the air and I speed down to my car and come to give the report to the police station.”
The police quickly dispatched a team of investigators to the scene of the incident, but by the time they arrived, the gunman was already gone. Although no one was found in the area, a nearby resident has given information which leaves authorities believing that the gunman was not from this side of the Western Border.
Adolfo Coyi
“They gone way to the river and ask one lady. The lady say that five persons just passed about two minutes ago. Each one got a gun and the next one a crocusack and I think da in the crocusack got the gun, right.
He got a black pants, black shoes. I see his hair just black. Well my friend said he got a handkerchief tied around his hair. I never see the color, cause when I see he start to shoot, I bring down my head cause I no want to catch the man bullet.”
Coyi, who has been working at the border for the past eighteen years, says he believes the reason why he came under fire is because the assailant may be familiar with his line of work.
Jacqueline Woods
“This is just one of the many small picado roads the police believe the robber used to illegally enter the country.”
To get an idea of just how easy it is for someone to illegally cross into the country we were taken on a tour of the other trails along the Western Border.
Escorted by two guides, armed with machetes, the winding trails took us along the Mopan River. As we made our way along the path, we came upon a somber reminder of just how dangerous these trails can be. According to our guide, the cross marks the place where a Belizean man was murdered three years ago, after he was confronted by some men with machetes. But just as there is danger in these parts, during the day, the Mopan River near the border is also a popular swimming spot for many Guatemalans. It is at this location that one gets a good idea of how easy it is to jump from one country to the other, commit a crime and make good their escape back across the border. For the men who work at the Western Border, especially our money changers, the situation has become particularity worrisome.
Elmer, Money Changer
“You no see no police around this area. That means we no have no security. People just walk through and they don’t even ask for their papers or what they are doing around here.
That’s what we need for our safety. We need security around these areas. What we need because from here to Benque is just a mile and all of that bush is around there. It should be cleaned you know.”
Israel Parham
“The Guatemalan Force on the Guatemalan side get real tough with the new law, that they got over there. The new police force, they are getting real hard with the people. They can’t assault nobody in Guatemala side, Flores, so they find the weakest spot to come an assault our people here in Belize.”
Guatemalan authorities say they cannot say for sure whether it is their countrymen who are penetrating the Western Border and committing high profile crimes in Belize. Elmer Trujillo who is the officer in charge of the border post at Melchor De Mencos, says he does not suspect any of the robbers in the Hummingbird Highway incident were Guatemalans.
Elmer Trujillo, Immigration Officer, Melchor De Mencos
“We do not want to be involved in this problem, but we do not suspect anybody here, because there are various races of people throughout the world and sometimes we do not know where they come from or where the problem originated from. I am sure every country has their own laws and governing body to look after their own internal affairs and the protection of their own country and people.
To my knowledge so far, all I know that on December twenty ninth of last year, the Peace Treaty was signed and here in Guatemala, the guerilla do not exist. One problem all around the world is the violence which has increase due to the economic and social breakdown in each country.”
According to Commandant of the B.D.F. Brigadier General, Robert Garcia, for sometime now there has been a working arrangement between the militaries of the two countries that can now be used to deal with illegal activity along the common border.
Robert Garcia, Commandant, B.D.F.
“My staff, especially my intelligence staff speak and work with his equivalent in military Zone 23 and indeed we have been doing so and we go even a stage lower where my field operators meet on a need basis to work out the details on the ground details and coordination for patrols along and so, along the borders.”
When asked if the hold up on the Hummingbird Highway was a wake up call for local law enforcement officers, Dean Barrow, the Minister of National Security, said it took everyone by surprise.
Dean Barrow, Minister of National Security
“Well, to the extent of alerting us that this kind of thing can happen that now this kind of thing has happened. I think before, none of us expected that there was any serious possibility of people coming across the border to do this sort of thing. So to that extent yes and I hope that the measures that we have put in place will reassure people of the unlikelihood of it ever happening again.”
Those measures are apparently being enforce as there is already visible police and B.D.F. presence along the Western Highway.
Adolfo Coyi told News Five that Tuesday’s incident was the second time within a week that he was a gunman’s target. On Saturday morning as he was heading to work, Coyi said that a man with a sixteen gauge shotgun took a shot at him, but missed.
