Foreign Minister Says Guat Counterparts’ Comments Will Not Change Situation

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales has made very unbecoming comments following the release of the O.A.S. report on the fatal shooting of fourteen-year-old Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano in April.  The investigation on the shooting death of the minor was conducted by experts, Doctors James Hamby of the U.S. and Doctor Patricia Trujillo of Mexico.  In his comment to Emisoras Unidas on Saturday, Morales directed his indignation toward O.A.S. Special Representative Magdalena Talamas and Prime Minister Dean Barrow.  He accused her of being wrong and undiplomatic in her statements before calling the Belizean people shameless and cynics.  Now, the Guatemalan government asked for an independent investigation and had no objections of the experts. Now the Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington on Friday said there was no need of an apology from Guatemala. Today, he told the media he has not heard what was said in the Guatemalan press by Morales. But in any instance, it is irrelevant.

Wilfred Elrington

Wilfred Elrington, Foreign Minister

“Actually I haven’t heard it, I haven’t seen it.  I heard that he issued a statement but it’s not something that I’ve given any attention to largely because this is just findings of two experts that are going to go along with the findings of our own police people who do their investigation and ultimately it will find its way up to the D.P.P.  So that apart from one being able to issue some comment on it, one personal comment, I don’t think it will make any difference in terms of what the experts found.  They were the ones that encouraged us to appoint these experts, we went ahead and we got these experts, they were deemed to be independent and competent people so I don’t see that whatever comment he makes about what they said would be about any real importance. That’s my view.”