Benque Police Find Body of Guatemalan in Mopan River

Tonight, there are unconfirmed reports of a confrontation between a Police Patrol and Guatemalan nationals in the community of Calla Creek in western Belize. That altercation allegedly occurred when Police attempted to retrieve the body of a man they believe to be missing Guatemalan Rudy Leonel Salazar. On Sunday Police were called to the area of the Clarissa Falls Resort after shots were heard. Later that night they picked up nineteen year old Cesar Umberto Chinchilla Rodriguez, bleeding for a gunshot below his right knee. Rodriguez told Police that he, twenty-two year old Rudy Salazar and another man crossed the border into Belize illegally on Sunday to go fishing. He claimed that while on the banks of the Mopan across from Clarissa Falls Resort, shots were fired at them, resulting in the injury to his leg. He also told investigators and Salazar was shot in the neck and fell into the river. Because of the state of the river in flood, and some doubt about Rodriguez’s story, there was little effort to search for Salazar, and on Tuesday Rodriguez was allegedly escorted back across the border to Guatemala. But tonight that situation has escalated with the discovery of the body. Benque Police are not releasing details at this time, but told News Five that the situation is, in their words, ongoing. We have been able to confirm that contrary to reports on the social media, no B.D.F. personnel have been deployed to the scene. There were two B.D.F. soldiers on patrol with the Police providing support, and we understand that they are still on the scene. We’ll have much more on this story in Friday’s newscast.