B.D.F. nonlethal weapons choice for City streets and border
Dario Tapia
News circulated about a week ago that the Belize Defence Force soldiers patrolling the border would be armed with taser guns and batons. But before public uproar erupted, Minister John Saldivar clarified that the soldiers would also continue to carry their usual firearms. Today, B.D.F. Commandant, Brigadier General Dario Tapia, explained that the objective is to provide an alternative so that the lethal weapons will only be used if it is absolutely necessary. That rule will also be applied to soldiers who have been mandated to carry out police duties in Belize City.
Brigadier General Dario Tapia, Commandant, B.D.F.
“In regards to the soldiers lethal or non-lethal, the soldiers will continue carrying lethal weapons. What we will arm them with is some additional non-lethal because what we want to ensure is that the soldier escalates the use of force rather than going straight to defending himself with deadly force. That’s what is going to occur. But certainly, he will be armed—I think the minister mentioned in a previous conference—he will be armed with his M-16, with his M-4 carbine and in addition to that, he will have some additional non lethal weapons to deploy before he resorts to his lethal weapon.”
Marion Ali, Love TV
“But this is not a phasing out of any lethal weapons?”
Brigadier General Dario Tapia
“No, it’s just additional things to give them because any loss of life is lamentable and unfortunately it has occurred thrice this year. So what we want to do is to avoid—because our soldiers as you all know, even working in Belize City are armed with M-16s and certainly we wouldn’t want one of our soldiers to kill one of our own if it can be avoided. So the proposals that we’re putting also to the government is that we not only arm our soldiers in the border areas, but also when they are working police duties because it could be that they could injure or fatally injure one of our own people and so I think it’s just a step further to prevent a loss of life.”
It is well known that the criminals in Belize City have access to lethal high powered rifles, including those stolen from B.D.F.’s Price Barracks. How the non-lethal choice will suit the soldiers on patrol is yet to be seen.
Mr. Tapia, will the guatemalan government provide their military personnel patrolling the border with the same non-lethal weapons as our soldiers? So what rules of engagement should our soldiers adhere to now? I can only imagine under our current leadership its goes something like return lethal fire only if the guatemalan aggressor has shot you in the head. I guess my biggest question is what if one of our soldiers is shot by one of these guatemalan scumbag will the guatemalan government compensate his family? This all smacks of bs!!! Might as well they invite the douche bag gutemalan president to the house of representatives, have him drop his pants squat over our flag take a big !@@^ on it and wipe hiss @$$ with our constitution and then when he is done he can keep dictating how our country should be run.
23!!! As it stands there are 23 brain dead people that can use the internet to cast their votes in the channel 5 e-poll that asks “Should the government pay compassionate grants to families of Guatemalan nationals who are killed during illegal activities?” 23 to 300 seems to be a paltry sum but even one vote in favor is one too many. Many will say oh Nigel is just another fanatic affiliated with the Belize Coalition for Justice but I assure you that I am not; I am simply just another ordinary citizen of this once proud nation that has had enough of our government/governments shaking “it” off for another country after has taken a pi$$ over all our collective heads. So my only wish is that the rule of natural selection kicks in and takes these 23 morons out of their useless existence.
Oh and by the way where the Belize Coalition for Justice is concerned I salute them for standing up and I wish other Belizeans would come to the realization that every time anyone stands up for what they believe in the government/governments (UDP/PUP) and their functionaries call on us to denounce them as politically motivated antagonist. Control of the sheeple through division.
Another ridiculous law by the ridiculous pm and gov.
I fully agreed with Rod on this one. This will only open our borders for more dead-fu-hungry chapines to come into our country. The news will now be that our soldiers will be falling down to these idiots since they will know that our soldiers will not be using lethal force so they will take advantage and be the first to shoot with their guns…. Come on Minister, you need to rethink this. The solution would be to shoot each and every guatemalan found stealing our resources. That way their government will ensure that they do their part in discouraging their citizens from entering our country to steal….
The rules of engagement was already really restrictive; now that it is going to be revised and additional restrictions put in place, this shall remove any personal use of discretion on behalf of our soldiers. They are being sent to a hot spot with their hands tied and the aggressors shall have the uper hand from the beginning or even before any encounter occurs. I would really like to see Mr. Tapia or those high ranking brass sent on border patrol with their batons and taser guns and face a group of bandits (chapines) and see how they will react. The current BDF is over-staffed with coronels and luitenant-coronels that maybe all their salaries put together they can buy better equipment than tasers.
As to using tractors to ferry troops to the border, it’s a laugh; we are going back instead of progrssing. And those Mahindra vehicles, they are Indian made; what about spares?? This government and BDF top brass are creating a MICKEY MOUSE army. Gone are the days of a once proud BDF. You cannot bite without teeth!!!!
I’am with Nigel way to go Nigel. I have the same take as you do with the guatemalan and salvas
Col. D.N.A. Fairweather was a black man that long to be white. Along with his penchant for living in a white world, he formed the BVG from which the BDF was borned. The BVG used to run around shooting blank bullets at each other. It was a make believe world.
Dario Tapia, BDF’s top brass is a disciple of Fairweather by way of Tom Greenwood. So his pretend bullets concept should come as no surprise.
Belize is quickly becoming a haven for drug smugglers and drug cartels. Drug smuggling is best managed when you operate along borderlines. It gives you the abilities to move in and out of a country without puny.
Let’s not cry when our BDF soldiers with pretend bullets become statistics to dangerous people with real bullets.
Seems as if our so call leaders have their tail between their legs. They are doing what Guatemala wants while Guatemala sits back and smile and call them suckers. I say to the BDF out there in the field to defend themselves when their lives are threatened by all means neccessary, your lives are on the line.
belize has never had a real army…so whats the big deal?
soft paps government we elected. With this type of action, we are encouraging incursions and more violence on the street. Why are we favoring the criminals? Come on Mr Tapia, remember, we taxpapers pay your fat salary.
am sure none of these BDF families are happy to hear this. We behave very loving to outsiders and treat them with compassion and understanding but they definitely do not treat us the same way, come on now fair must be fair. How will we put our guys on the streets with play play guns when am sure the opponents carrying real shi**t….
What a joke!!!
1. I support BDF using non-lethal weapons, as long as we also require the gangsters in the City and Guat invaders to use them. Let them all fight with paintball guns!
2. More seriously, I suggest all of our BDF on City patrol should be armed with pistols, too. M-16s and M-4s are too powerful for most purposes, unless they are in a sustained gun battle. Stray 5.56mm rounds can do a lot of collateral damage.
3. I hope the Mahindras hold up. I have seen a lot of them when doing business in Nicaragua, and they are notorious for having weak or soft frames that literally bend when driving off-road, over potholes, etc. Good thing we have perfect roads in the Jewel where they will be operating.
Tasers and non lethal weapons for city streets, yes. Tasers and non lethal weapons to do border patrol…………are you kidding me?
Quite frankly, I really don’t know if I should laugh or if I should cry.
Tasers and non lethal weapons for city streets, yes. Tasers and non lethal weapons to do border patrol…………are you kidding me?
Quite frankly, I really don’t know if I should laugh or if I should cry.
Did guat soldier also agree to to have alternative weapons?