B.D.F. Commander Says He Knew it All Along – His Soldiers Did Not Kill Julio Alvarado

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that it today officially received the independent report on the killing of Guatemala minor Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano. The report carries a chronology of events on what transpired in the Chiquibul when the minor lost his life on the night of April twentieth. As we reported on Wednesday, the investigation vindicates the Belize Defense Force from causing the death of Alvarado since he was killed by bullets from a twelve gauge shotgun and a point twenty-two firearm. The B.D.F. uses M-Fourteen carbines, which did not produce any of the wounds. But even more stunning is information that the scene was tainted by the Guatemalan military. At the time of the unfortunate incident—and without the benefit of an investigation—the Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales and his Foreign Minister, Carlos Raul Morales, were belligerent, accusing the B.D.F. of lacking professionalism and acting as murderers. Those claims, empty as they were, have turned out to also be baseless. The Commander of the B.D.F., Brigadier General David Jones spoke candidly about the incident with News Five this morning.

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander, B.D.F.

“I haven’t had a copy of it official, but what I’ve seen on the news so far vindicates the B.D.F. on the horrific campaign that was made against us with regards to the international campaign with the Foreign Minister and the Guatemalan president. It really validates what my stance was all along; that the officers acted in accordance in how they were trained, they behaved professionally and it was admirable what they did to handle the situation the way they did and come back out, even though it was expressed that they were murderers, they are hunting down their people. That was not the case in the report. The Guatemalans clearly have expressed sentiments contrary to what the truth actually came out now. I always took the stance that our soldiers acted professionally, they have not been hunting any Guatemalan farmers in that incident or even in previous incidents; we’ve always been vindicated that we acted in self defense and that is what the report has proven that our soldiers acted in self-defense.”

David Jones

Duane Moody

“The clearly states, from these professionals that the evidence on the scene were removed—removed by the Guatemalans. They are making that clear. What’s happening there? Was it a plan or a plot to make the B.D.F. and our joint patrol look bad?”

Brig. Gen. David Jones

“Evidently when somebody go and remove evidence from a location it is because they have something to hide. We maintain our stance that the story that was given to us by our patrol members was correct. When the patrol was fired upon, we were sure it was true and after the evidence that was presented to me by our patrol members based on the interviews, I was sure from then that the minor was not shot by our soldiers. And there were wounds that were sustained that were not from the weapons from the Belize Defense Force. Unfortunately, emotions got into play and information was passed locally, regionally and internationally that the B.D.F. were the ones who fired and shot the boy intentionally. And it has been proven that there was crossfire between the two so it proves that we did not violate any human rights; it also proves that we responded in self defense and it also proves that the boy was not fatally wounded by shots of one of our soldiers which was being spread internationally.”