Wil Maheia Lashes out at O.A.S.

Wil Maheia

The Organization of American States has issued a release on the fatal shooting of Guatemalan minor Julio Rene Alvarado, in the Chiquibul on Wednesday. The release states that,  “the O.A.S. General Secretariat repudiates the death of a Guatemalan minor at the hands of a Belizean patrol and urges both sides to redouble efforts to establish a lasting peace.” The wording won’t endear the O.A.S. to its critics in Belize, since that organization is allocating blame even before an investigation, which it says it will conduct. Additionally, the O.A.S. was silent when Danny Conorquie was shot at Caracol and when Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey was shot on Holy Saturday by Guatemalans. Wil Maheia is one of those critics and lashed out at the allegedly impartial organization today.

Wil Maheia, Head, Belize Territorial Volunteers

“I have said this before…I don’t think that the O.A.S. is on our side. I hear that Minister Elrington talked about the importance of the O.A.S., I don’t think that they are important for Belize. When they shot Danny Conorquie, when they shot the Belize Defense Force sergeant, the O.A.S. did not jump and condemn it. Why is it that O.A.S. is so one-sided that we continue to appease the O.A.S. and Guatemala? I believe, as Belizeans, we need to stand up and we need to demand more from our government, we need to demand more from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and we need to demand more from our Prime Minister. We need to stand in solidarity with our military; we need to stand in solidarity with the coastguard and the B.D.F. because they are out there defending this territory.”