FCD Says Environs of Valentin Camp a Hotbed for Incursions

Rafael Manzanero

The official jury is still out on the shooting of B.D.F. Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey on Holy Saturday. There has been progress in the multiple subsequent investigations, enough for a determination that it is very likely the shooters were Guatemalan residents of a small community known as La Rejoya. But there is also a suggestion that the attack was only possible because Lambey somehow got separated from his patrol during a routine water resupply operation. The rangers of the Friends for Conservation and Development are very familiar with the area around the Valentin camp where Lambey was ambushed, and this afternoon Executive Director Rafael Manzanero told News Five that that zone is a hotbed of incursions.

Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD

“Over the years the area of La Rejoya has been one of the main gateways for incursions and in fact the reason for Valentin was precisely for that main objective of controlling and containing the expansion of the incursions around that area.”

Reporter

“Now I know you have always mentioned that security is a concern for your rangers when they are patrolling in the area. Is there a sense of heightened alertness with the situation of the alleged poachers that shot this B.D.F. soldier?”

Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD

“I think as always in terms of enforcement always the patrols have to be alert, so that is something that normally would be practiced in the area, all throughout that particular zone. I think when I think whenever we start to talk about the Chiquibul, the hotspot areas are primarily on the Western flank of the area which is adjoining the Guatemalan border, so that is a sense of alert that always has to be maintained.”