PM Barrow Says that Guatemala Flew of the Handle Following Chiquibul Shooting

Following the incident in the Chiquibul, where a minor was shot and killed when the B.D.F. came under fire, Guatemala’s version of events went immediately viral, led by an inflammatory video message by President Jimmy Morales. The perception has been that Belize’s response, on the other hand, has been subdued and inadequate, giving our western and southern neighbor the upper hand. The Prime Minister acknowledged that Guatemala did get out the starting gate first, but in light of the emotive aspect of the shooting that had to be expected.

Dean Barrow

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Sensationalism and emotion are always going to be on the side of the Guatemalans. That is inevitably going to be the media take away from that incident. Belizean soldiers killed a minor—whether they say unarmed; whether they say that it was in circumstance of…oh sorry.   They are not going to say in the normal course that our soldiers were fired upon. They are not going to say that they knew not from where the shots came; they are not going to say that they retaliated as a matter of self defense and in circumstances where all they can do is fire in the direction from which the shots originated, without seeing or knowing who the hell was shooting at them. No; the take away is, a minor was killed by Belizean soldiers. So we were always going to be playing catch up. That we perhaps might have gotten our story out even to the Belizean public a little more quickly that we did, I will concede. The B.D.F. would have to tell you about the problems they have with communication in circumstances where they are in these heavily forested areas and where they have to bring that body from Cebada to Caracol. Is it? But be that as it may, we have to do better at getting the report to Foreign Affairs and to the civilian authorities of the government so that we can put out a statement as quickly as we possibly can.”