Security forces defend actions in triple shooting

While the generals try to avoid confrontation along the border, a Commission of Inquiry is trying to unravel a deadly showdown that occurred last year. Two B.D.F. privates and one police superintendent took the stand today to testify before the panel charged to investigate the shooting deaths of three Guatemalans, which occurred in November in Toledo. Commission Chairman Herbert Lord read statements that both B.D.F. officers gave to the police at the time, after which they were cross-examined by the three-member commission. Both officers contend that they did not fire any shots, let alone kill any of the three Guatemalans in question. The first B.D.F. private told the Commission that when the Guatemalans, armed with home-made spear guns and three-foot machetes, were advancing in their direction, he was not given the order to shoot, so he didn’t. He also testified that the first victim, Jesus Ramirez Senior, who was shot in the chest with an M-16 rifle, charged directly at the police officer. The B.D.F. officer continued by saying he was about five feet away from the assailants when he heard the first gunshot and saw the older Ramirez fall to the ground. The Punta Gorda superintendent who was part of the planning operation to dispatch the team, told the gathering that he was in favour of the nine-member patrol leaving the San Vicente area as tension could have escalated. He said he felt his officers used good judgement in retreating from the scene. The Commission of Inquiry continues tomorrow at the Belize City Magistrate’s Court. Ramirez and his two sons were killed near San Vicente Village when they allegedly attacked the patrol, which had been called out to investigate a land dispute between Ramirez and a Belizean family.