On Thursday, we aired the first of a two-part series of amateur footage provided exclusively to News Five showing what transpired on the Sarstoon River between the BDF and the Guatemalan military. The confrontation was the most recent between the two armed forces, taking place on March twelfth when a detail of BDF soldiers arrived […]
Three men were killed in two separate incidents within hours of each other in the west. The first, a double murder, occurred on Thursday afternoon, in the San Francisco area of San Ignacio Town. Two Guatemalan nationals, believed to be drug peddlers from neighboring Melchor De Mencos, Peten were executed off a feeder road between […]
There was a double murder today in the west and we will come to that shortly, but events of national importance in the Sarstoon continue to dominate the news. Tonight, we bring you exclusive and explosive footage of an aggression against local law enforcement by the Guatemalan military. The incident happened back on March twelfth, […]
Following that dangerous encounter, nine Belize Defense Force soldiers, including Sergeant Kib and Lance Corporal Zuniga, who were assigned to the construction site where the Sarstoon Forward Operating Base was being erected, are tonight facing disciplinary charges. While the men bravely stood their ground in the face of military aggression by the Guatemalan Armed Forces, […]
This afternoon, Ministry of Foreign Affairs C.E.O. Lawrence Sylvestre, with military leaders General David Jones and Admiral John Borland attempted to dissuade representatives of the Belize Territorial Volunteers from going to the Sarstoon on Saturday. The meeting took place in Punta Gorda, hometown of the BTV, and first indications are that the G.O.B. and military […]
Today at the meeting the BTV was joined by representatives of the Northern Territorial Volunteers, headquartered in Orange Walk. The mandate of the NTV is to increase awareness of our border points, from north to south, and the group has taken over fifteen hundred Belizeans on various expeditions to those areas. ON Saturday the NTV […]
De la Fuente says that where the trip to the Sarstoon is concerned, any aggression from the Guatemalans will be a result of the weakness of government’s position now and in the past. As to the suggestion from official quarters that the BTV is provoking Guatemalans, he says that’s just ridiculous, an assertion with no […]
There was a double murder today in the west off the cutoff to the garbage dump near Misty Meadow Farms. Two Guatemalan nationals were found murdered off a feeder road between mile sixty-nine and seventy leading to the Mopan River. The bodies of the two men were lying side by side with multiple gunshots. At […]
The attempt by Guatemala to inspire international outrage against Belize following last Wednesday incident in the Chiquibul continues unabated. In an interview we aired on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales claimed that he had lobbied support from Foreign Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean in condemning Belize. He also claimed that he wants […]
Wil Maheia and the Belize Territorial Volunteers are unyielding in their goal to return to the Sarstoon on Saturday where they plan to commemorate the hundred and fifty-seventh anniversary of the signing of the 1859 Treaty between Britain and Guatemala. The group’s persistence flies in the face of the Prime Minister’s warning on Monday, dissuading […]
Tonight, however, the BTV remains undeterred to travel to the Sarstoon over which the Guatemalans are exerting sovereignty and have deployed additional troops in the area. The B.D.F. believes the expedition is risky business for the BTV. Guatemala claims it’s an act of provocation and will not allow the BTV in the area. The Foreign […]
The strategy of the government of Guatemala following the shooting of thirteen-year-old Julio Alvarado Ruano is two-fold. It wants an investigation and for those responsible to be taken to trial. Guatemala also wants the moral condemnation of Belize. In the extended television program, Foreign Minister Morales discloses the steps Guatemala is taking, including presenting a […]
On Monday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow assured the nation that the crisis with Guatemala had been averted and that both he and President Jimmy Morales had agreed to de-escalate tensions following the deployment of troops to the Sarstoon and the Adjacency Zone. In the interview to Canal Antigua, Morales claims that Guatemala did not deploy […]
But back to Brigadier General David Jones…he said today that the investigation into the shooting of Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey remains ongoing, but unofficially, he’s been told that Lambey would have been ambushed by the Guatemalans. As to the shooting last Wednesday in the Chiquibul Forest which left thirteen-year-old Julio Alvarado Ruano dead, Guatemala was […]
The rules of engagement for B.D.F. soldiers on patrol near the western and southern borders with Guatemala are a clear set of directives that each officer must follow. They provide authorization and restrictions on, among other things, the use of force, as well as the employment of certain specific capabilities. In light of the recent […]
As we have reported, the Organization of American States has been the only organization to “repudiate” the death of the Guatemalan minor at the hands of the B.D.F. even before an investigation was completed. But things are moving ahead and the O.A.S. confirmed today that at the request of both countries, it will be conducting […]
More than five years after he stabbed Christie Carrasco to death, Osmar Sabido was today sentenced to life in prison for the crime. The lengthy judgment was read into record by Justice Herbert Lord as family members of the victim packed the courtroom. Outside, friends of the Carrasco family stood silently, waiting in shirts marked […]
In cases we’ve covered, sentencing would usually be reserved pending mitigation pleas on behalf of the convicted. But in this case sentencing was immediate, as requested by Selgado after conferring with his client. Selgado says that it is almost certain that the matter will be appealed, but either way, a life sentence does not necessarily […]
All was quiet today at the adjacency zone as well as in the Sarstoon where Guatemalan troops have been deployed. But are the Belize Territorial Volunteers being defiant by staring in the face of clear warning from Prime Minister Barrow not to venture into the Sarstoon? Given the military presence in the area, government has […]
In Guatemala City, La Nacion Newspaper is reporting a protest in front of the Belize Embassy by about two dozen protestors bearing placards with the names of ten Guatemalans that they claim have been killed in Belize since 1999. President Jimmy Morales told reporters today that he hopes that those responsible for the death of […]
The death of thirteen year old Julio Alvarado Ruano was ventilated today in the Guatemalan Congress where the rhetoric went up notches. Congressman Oliviera Garcia claimed that Guatemalans have been robbed and assaulted by powers with whom Guatemala signed agreements that were never respected. He said they cannot speak about a border with Belize because […]
There are also reports that Belizean Joseph Budna was attacked in a prison in retaliation for the death of the thirteen-year-old boy killed in la Cebada, Chiquibul last Wednesday. The incident occurred at Cantel prison in Quetzaltenango; five persons were injured in the chaos and three were taken for medical treatment. It is believed that […]
Following the incident in the Chiquibul, where a minor was shot and killed when the B.D.F. came under fire, Guatemala’s version of events went immediately viral, led by an inflammatory video message by President Jimmy Morales. The perception has been that Belize’s response, on the other hand, has been subdued and inadequate, giving our western […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow returned to Belize from New York on Sunday after holding discussions with the United Nations, the Organization of American States and others on the aggressive stand by Guatemala, following the killing of a minor inside the Chiquibul. Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales and other high-ranking officials ramped up the rhetoric and mobilized […]
The de-escalation of the tension, according to the PM, came despite the positions taking by both leaders – Morales seeking justice for the death of thirteen year old Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano, and Barrow maintaining that the shooting was justified…self-defense after a B.D.F. patrol came under fire. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “President Morales committed […]
