Hope dims for finding killers, skiff, body

The trail appears to be growing colder in the search for the three men who hijacked a Belizean passenger boat on Tuesday and in the process murdered 6 people. Punta Gorda Police report that they spent the day searching the area around the Sarstoon River, but found no sign of the suspects, believed to be Guatemalans, or the stolen skiff “Mariestela”. Also yet to be recovered is the body of Julio Requena Jr. Requena was shot by the gunmen and went overboard into the rough seas. He was seen by a surviving witness to go under the surface and not come up. The question of exactly where the monstrous crime was committed is still not a certainty. National C.I.B. Chief Bernard Lino has told the media that he is working on the assumption that the murders took place in Guatemalan waters. A final determination however, which will become relevant only if and when the culprits are caught, may be made on a diplomatic level between the two governments. If the main thrust of the criminal investigation is in Guatemalan hands, it is surprising that no word of the crime has surfaced in either of the major Guatemalan daily newspapers.