No Official Word From CARICOM on Soldiers Deployment to Haiti

Oscar Mira

Today, we got an update from the Minister of State in the Ministry of National Defense, Oscar Mira, on the status of fifty Belize Defense Force soldiers that are being trained for deployment to Haiti. According to Minister Mira, an official decision has not yet been made and the Government of Belize is waiting for directives from its CARICOM counterparts. In the meantime, a group of soldiers from the Canadian Armed Forces are in Belize preparing those soldiers.

Oscar Mira, Minister of State, Ministry of National Defense

“The Belize Defense Force is always making sure that they are ready for deployment. We are doing training. We have not sent anyone out of the country for training. The training is happening in Belize. We have Canadian Forces here in the country who is giving us that training. At the beginning we have a list of fifty personnel. We will train more so that we have a poll of BDF officers who can be deployed to Haiti. But that training is happening here in Haiti. There has not been a decision as yet as to deployment to Haiti. CARICOM is still looking and still deciding when will be the best. We want to ensure that our soldiers are well prepared, that the soldiers that are deployed are well trained and have everything they need before they are deployed. A decision has not been made as yet.”