Vindication! O.A.S. Report Says B.D.F. Did Not Kill Guatemalan Child

An official report is completed, but is yet to be presented to the Government in respect of the shooting death of fourteen year old Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano. The minor was killed in April of this year and the reaction from Guatemala was intransigent—they mobilized troops along the western border and south in the Sarstoon and accused the B.D.F. in international platforms as being murderers. They went as far as to take their case to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights—all without the benefit of an independent investigation. But tonight, the B.D.F. is being exonerated of wrongdoing and an O.A.S. investigation contained in a twenty-two-page document has found that the rounds that fatally injured the minor were not fired by the B.D.F.  News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

An independent investigation commissioned by the Organization of American States into the shooting death of Guatemalan national Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano has concluded.  The incident involving the fourteen-year-old minor occurred on April twentieth within the area of the Adjacency Zone overseen by Belize.  The deadly confrontation between the illegal farmers and a local law enforcement patrol took place in the El Sapote region of the Chiquibul National Forest. As previously reported, Carlos Alfredo Alvarado Ramirez and his two sons were allegedly returning to his village in neighboring Guatemala when they encountered Belize Defense Force personnel and a team of rangers attached to the Friends of Conservation and Development.  While the sequence of events varies based on information given by both parties, it has been ascertained that as many as thirty-one rounds of different calibers were fired during the violent exchange.  Ruano was struck twice in the neck by a point twenty-two caliber round and twice to the left shoulder by pellets from a twelve gauge shotgun.  While the B.D.F. team fired nine rounds, only three shots from their standard issue M4 carbine, none of those five point five six caliber rounds found their mark on the deceased or any other persons, debunking allegations made in the Guatemalan press that Ruano was killed by the B.D.F.  Newly appointed C.E.O. in the Ministry of Defense Felix Enriquez spoke briefly on the O.A.S. Report.

Felix Enriquez

Felix Enriquez, C.E.O., Ministry of Defense

“I’ve seen the report, it was recently handed to us.  As far as really analyzing precisely what it says I haven’t done that as yet but I will say that the report does clear up what was doubtful for some people but it was clear in our heads from the beginning which is that the Belizean patrol did not arbitrarily fire upon any civilians.  They were returning [fire], they were acting in self-defense.”

The investigation, led by Dr. James Hamby and Dr. Patricia Trujillo, details a series of measures taken in communicating with and interviewing all persons involved, including government and O.A.S. officials.  What was also made clear in the report is that Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano had previously been detained on March second.  It is also evident that, at the very least, five different groups, including the Guatemalan military visited the site of the shooting after the event and removed evidence from the scene. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.