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After 3 years, still no justice for Danny Conorquie

LatestAfter 3 years, still no justice for Danny Conorquie

BELIZE CITY, Tues. Sept. 19, 2017– It has been said time and again that Danny Conorquie, the 20-year-old Special Constable of the Tourism Police Unit who was gunned down in cold blood at the Caracol temple in western Belize on September 25, 2014, should not have died in vain, but the sad reality is that three years after his broad-daylight execution in the sight of visiting tourists and tour guides, no suspect has even been named for his murder.

Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Patrick Andrews, indicated to Amandala today that the investigation which Belize had requested the Organization of American States (OAS) to conduct into the Conorquie execution has met a major snag – that is, the Guatemalans are “stalling,” because they want a reinvestigation into the April 20, 2016 shooting death of Julio Rene Alvarado, 14, the Guatemalan minor who was shot dead after Belizean soldiers and rangers from Friends for Conservation and Development came under hostile fire in an operation to curb illegal activities on the Belize side of the border.

The investigation conducted by James E. Hamby, a retired Special Agent of the United States of America Army Criminal Investigation Command, and Dr. Patricia Rosa Linda Trujillo Mariel, Head of Criminalistics of Mexico’s Federal Police – OAS-commissioned experts, had vindicated Belize from allegations by Guatemala of human rights violations against the minor.

It is these same investigators who have been asked to take on the Conorquie case. According to CEO Andrews, the Government of Belize has continued to follow up on the matter at the level of the OAS, but they (the OAS) have to get permission from their people in Guatemala in order to conduct the necessary interviews for the investigation, which would require cooperation also from the police in Guatemala.

Andrews said that there are really no suspects at this time in the Conorquie killing.

Next Monday, September 25, will mark the third year since the brazen slaying of the special constable.

As we had reported when the story originally broke, illegal loggers from Guatemala were said to have taken Conorquie’s life.

The tourism police had captured five horses in a routine sweep of the Caracol area, which signaled the presence of illegal loggers, who use the horses to haul woods such as cedar and mahogany from the Chiquibul Forest. Those horses were found within a distance equivalent to a 2-to-3 minute-walk from where tourists were sightseeing, according to our official source.

After Conorquie was gunned down, the shooter stole his weapon and ran off in a westerly direction towards the Guatemala border.

Back in 2016, it had been reported that Conorquie’s family would have received $125,000 in compensation from the Government of Belize. We have yet to confirm what, if anything, was given, but we are told by Financial Secretary Joseph Waight that it would have been considered an ex-gratia payment, since awarding compensation suggests culpability by the party issuing the payment.

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