Guatemalan shot by B.D.F. in San Jose Las Flores?
Luis Alberto Garcia Pineda
There is tension tonight over the shooting of twenty-one year old Luis Alberto Garcia Pineda on the western border on Monday. Garcia claims that a military patrol by the Belize Defence Force shot and wounded him during a raid in the village of San Jose Las Flores in the Chiquibul, Melchor de Mencos. The report has made it to La Prensa Libre, a Guatemalan newspaper that persistently follows the border dispute between Belize and Guatemala. According to Prensa Libre, Garcia remains hospitalized in the Regional Hospital of Poptún, Petén. His version is that on Monday afternoon he was informed by neighbors that a military patrol by the B.D.F., had detained three minors who were collecting firewood near the adjacency line between Guatemala and Belize. When he and others headed to the scene, Garcia was shot on the left hand. Garcia claims that he and four other farmers were forced to their knees to plea for the release of the minors and that when the B.D.F. was leaving the area, they fired at several houses. According to reports, the Guatemalan government is not taking the situation lightly and is seeking explanation from the Belize government.
dead man tells no tales…….we have to stop treating incursions as minor happenings. any Guat that crosses the border armed is attacking our sovereignty and must be treated as such.
I applaud the BDF, they are there to protect the sovereignty of our country. Guatemala has always treated Belize as if though we belong to them. We need to put our foot down somehow and show them that we rule on our land.
I agree with Sugar. These stupid chapines take our country as nothing. Our BDF need to be more aggressive against these idiots. They don’t care to lose their life eventhough they know that they are in the wrong. BDF, you need to have more sharpshooters in these patrols so that no idiotic guatemalan who crosses into our country illegally gets away. I think that the BDF who shot that idiot should get a medal of honor for his patriotism in defending our beautiful Belize’s border and territory.
jaja they shot my hand stupid guat. I hope guat stop being so stupid, and stop cross to belize.
Indeed We as Belizean cannot go over to their Country and do whatever we want we always respected them, they are suppose to do the same, indeed whenever they are within our borders they should respect our laws and as for our Military we should just open fire when the dust clears then we ask question, they have no right here, its our land and patrimony they are raping enough of this Bull about Adjacency Zone.
Why so much hate ??? I read the previous comments and Im sad to see that this is our mentality. We are talking about human beings not animals no matter what nationality they are. If so be the case that this Guatemalan minors were in Belizean territory proper procedures should have been taken. Not holding things by the guns. We talk about our alarming situation of our country, but still yet we want more voilence. Think about it …
I agree with Jan we are” All” claiming that toooo much violence is taking place here at our jewel yet U all have heart to say its good for them just because they are from another country you all forget that those are the same people that comes to our country to do the hard works we Belizean are tooo lazy to do.Come on………lets think for a while we need to make peace not war…!!!!!!!
I agree with Jan, why sooo much hate when its human being treated as animals, Just because they r from Guatemala. We belizean r forgetting that those people r the ones that comes to our country to do the hard works we belizean r tooo damn lazy to do. We r all claiming that there is tooo much killing going on in our Jewel. Lets make PEACE not WAR……..!!!
As much as I can understand Jan’s and Chelsea’s mentality about violence, I think you both completely missed the seriousness of the situation. These people were breaking the law. It was not like stopped to show passports, they were coming into our country illegally and about to shoot at law enforcers. This cannot be accepted! It’s not because they were guatemalan, it is the fact that if we allow one person to brazenly enter our country like that, we open the door to many others feeling they can do the same. We are an independent nation and should be treated with such respect. Those people would not have tried to do that anywhere else in the world, so why should we accept such behavior. Americans and British would have taken the same precautions in defending their country.
My advise to all of you that fee Belize should be more agressive toward Guatemalans you need to put a bridle on you ego, swallow some of your pride. How long do you think Belize would last should Guatemala make a move on Belize? Even if they would only get as far as San Ignacio, can you imagin the last of lives for Belize? Don’t be stupid and provoke a fight you can’t win. If those of you that are are talking tough think that the violence you see on TV make you ready for real war close up, think again. Only full cooperation from the Guatemalan government can, and will prevent this boarder violation from become a major problem.
@Roy Yates- They wouldn’t make it far , smaller countries have survive invasions from large first world countries. They will have to come to our turf and fight and thats where they will be gutted . Guatemala is not stupid to do such a thing against Belize if the felt confident they wouldn’t have done so a long time ago.
If the incident happened as the BDF said then, They are within their rights to act as they did. This goes to you Roy Yates, Chelsea Vink and Jan. It’s time to take a stand and defend your country and stop talking and acting like wimps. Appeasing aggressors and bullies only lead to more of the same. Learn some history!
If it happened as the BDF said then they were within their rights to defend themselves as any other law abiding Belizean has the right to defend their lives with deadly force if necessary.
LETS BE HONEST NOW…
I love my country but I am not stupid the Goliath and David story was so because David was an expert at using his slingshot… HOW MANY BELIZEANS ARE EXPERTS AT THE USE OF FIREARMS???? The ones that get to use them most often are gang bangers and they need to shoot 16 times only to catch someone four times and that is at point blank range… The last thing we should want is to provoke a fight with a superior enemy… England’s signature to defend Belize expired a couple years ago and it was not renewed. WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH OIL TO BE WORTH DEFENDING.
Funny to hear all you idiots talk so tough when you cannot even control the little animals killing people while riding bicycles. Mr Yates is an intelligent man. Not one of you idiots talking big would fight a Guat. The best you all can do is post stupidity in this site.Another reason why Belize is where it is. Full of people who talk crap.
well stop the argue yu all. The freaking guatemalans just like to tell a load of lies to make themselves free from the situation that arises. hear what they say minors looking for fire woods. let the BDF testifies this. Speak the truth and shame the devil. Be honest BDF sholdiers. I know yo all doing your best for the security of our country Belize. YU ALL dn’t try to challenge the BDF they are working really hard and putting their life at risk. Government should look into this matter and to stop the Guatemalans invading our territory illegally. we are enough of this do something Mr. Barrow. Imaging yourself is you are the one patroling the area what will you do put yourself in the situation.
well stop the argue yu all. The freaking guatemalans just like to tell a load of lies to make themselves free from the situation that arises. hear what they say minors looking for fire woods. let the BDF testifies this. Speak the truth and shame the devil. Be honest BDF sholdiers. I know yo all doing your best for the security of our country Belize. YU ALL dn’t try to challenge the BDF they are working really hard and putting their life at risk. Government should look into this matter and to stop the Guatemalans invading our territory illegally. we are enough of this do something Mr. Barrow. Imaging yourself is you are the one patroling the area what will you do put yourself in the situation. This Is Belize Land of the Free but not to be raped and destroy its beautiful.
Jan and Chelsea are way off point.The BDF is out there to defend the country as a result i do not know how both of you sell out can refer to their actions as violence.Would either of you go out there to do the difficult job that these soldiers are given to carry out?
What & Dean Vernon, Before I respond to your comment I lok to make sure of the sixe of Guatemala’s population, and its approximately 10.6 million. I believe that B elize is about 300.000. I don’t don’t know the size of Guatemala nor Belize military force, but I would imagin that Guatemala has as many men in the military as the total population of Belize. Given that ratio, there is no doubt in my mind, that should Belize and Guatemal go to war without any help for Belize we would be the sure loser. My dear country man, I saw war close up, have you? Have you ever been in a situation where you know that the next person to fall by a bullet could be you, day in and day out? Have you ever seen live human beings been crushed by tanks? don’t talk to me about whimps. Gautemala can decide to give up five to one in a battle, and when its over they will have millions to carry on in their nation; how much would be left to continue in Belize? According to the BDF statement, the Guat—had AK47, and I assume the guy was a civilian. Does Belize have army Tanks and helicopters for rapid troops movements?
What & Dean Vernon, Before I respond to your comment I lok to make sure of the sixe of Guatemala’s population, and its approximately 10.6 million. I believe that B elize is about 300.000. I don’t don’t know the size of Guatemala nor Belize military force, but I would imagin that Guatemala has as many men in the military as the total population of Belize. Given that ratio, there is no doubt in my mind, that should Belize and Guatemal go to war without any help for Belize we would be the sure loser. My dear country man, I saw war close up, have you? Have you ever been in a situation where you know that the next person to fall by a bullet could be you, day in and day out? Have you ever seen live human beings been crushed by tanks? don’t talk to me about whimps.
Gautemala can decide to give up five to one in a battle, and when its over they will have millions to carry on in their nation; how much would be left to continue in Belize? According to the BDF statement, the Guat—had AK47, and I assume the guy was a civilian. Does Belize have army Tanks and helicopters for rapid troops movements?
You guys need to ask yourself how many belizean try to get in the us illegally every yr . do they shoot first and then ask question? no they detained and deport why can’t we do the same especially if there were children involed i bet you guys would not be talking like that if your kid was in that situation and you had to go plead for them to be release . some of you say the BDF should shoot first and ask question afterward why when the police do it to the gang bwai them every start holla the police them bad .
As a diehard Belizean I am disgusted when Guatemalans come across into our country and do whatever they want. this is a tricky situation for the BDF. Our men and women are put in danger and all who have not trecked the jungle cannot understand the difficulty these defenders of our territory go through. But it becomes more sinister, just in case you didn’t know, that this government has given nationality papers to thousands of Guatemalans despite this being unconstitutional, and they are living amongst us. they cannot forget their country of origin.. they still love their country.. I hear them saying those things in their conversations while at the same time receiving assistance from Social Security.
As a matter of fact there many Guatemalans who come over to collect Social Security monies. I heard recently a Maya de Oro bus driver while talking to another Guat that here he can come like Belize is his country and he said, “pero you soy chapin” and he not being aware that I am a Belizean was spouting his connections with Cayo West area representative and the favors he has received. He knows Belmopan like his fingertips and whose who in government. You think any one of us could just walk in to a Guat. minister’s office? NEVER!
In my recent visit to Guat. city I noticed that their map shows Belize as another “departamento’ of guatemala. Many of those Guats that this government gave nationality are trained military. Don’t ever dispel the notion that if it comes to fight for Guat these same people could easily take us from within.
However, there are many Chapines who are living honest lives and supplying us with fruits and vegetables. .. so that’s why this issue is complicated… but keep your eyes open.
i cannot beleive what i am hearing from my fellow belizean. why not bend and kiss their feet or their @$$#$ in that case, Why show fear and cowardice, we are a very proud nation and for that reason lets not take bullship from those stupid uneducated farmers, guatemalans have and will always believe that belize belongs to them no matter what government says. We are very calm people and thats the reason they like to provoke. they push and push to see how far they can go. trust me i hear a lot of them laugh at us because they saw we are coward and stupid’, i think its enough, shot their @$$#$ as soon as the cross the border, they dont come in peace, and whoever believe that $#!% about them saying that they went looking for the kids are dumb@$$#$, you all know that is bull crap, trying to get pity from people, not from me, next time make sure you crippled him for life, so he remembers not to !@#$ with belizean.
Dear Roy Yates. I am a veteran of Desert Storm. I was in the USAF for 8 Yrs. It doesn’t matter what size your opponent is. You and I mean the country, has to stand up for itself. Ignoring abuses and pretending that the bullying will stop is not being realistic. Once you start running you better keep running because it won’t stop.
Nobody is talking about going to war. A deterrent is what’s needed now. They need be shown that there is a price to pay for these incursions. These incidents are nothing new. Showing weakness only invites more aggression.
Dean
There has been so many incidents between Guatemalal and Belize for more than a century so why is this incident different. The Guatemalans soldiers at the Benque Viejo border are always prepared to shoot jumping out of those trees, scaring and intimidating the visitors. Guatemalan government don’t want the Belizeans in their country but it is okay for them to enter and be recognize. I think it is time that we set the record straight and let the Guats relalize that Belizeans have had enough of their intimidation. If this law enforcement officer was on Guatemala’s side of the border they would have killed him and that would have been it. Why not put this to rest and move on. Send this soldier where he belongs to jail.
Most of these people that are against what our BDF did and talking bs are naturalized Belizeans that are of Guatemalan origin.how can’t you all figure that out.Wake up Belize.Listen to what Diehard Belizean is saying.This is something for us as Belizeans to think about.These are thesame idiots that come to Belize and act like they’re loyal to our country but are diehard guatemalans even though they’ve been given thesame benefits as a born Belizean.
Dean Vernon..
Are you going to be a one man army? For hear me when I say……. Most Belizeans are cowards.You will be out there alone.The country is going to hell and Belizeans sit on the side lines and talk and talk and talk. Please…….and u want to get in a fight with the guats? SUICIDE!
You are all wrong and have that ignorance mind, WHY DON’T YOU ASK THE US SINCE THE US HAS THE MOST CIVIL ANSWER WHEN CROSSING THE BORDER. Belize people are Guatemalan descendent just because WHITIE CAME OVER AND CLAIM/BOUGHT A PIECE OF GUATEMALA doesn’t make you any better then anybody else. Yes the border should be secure but they LAW NEED TO ACT ABOVE THE PEOPLE AND THAT MEANS IN MATURITY AND NOT SHOOTING AT DUST.
AND NOW GUATEMALANS….THERE IS NOTHING BETTER IN BELIZE,,,,,,WHY WOULD YOU GO THERE…OR GET NEAR IT.
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR ARGUMENT.