BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Apr. 28. 2016–On March 26, 2016, BDF Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey was shot three times as he led a patrol to a water source near Valentin Camp in the Chiquibul forest, in Belizean territory.

A report dated March 31, 2016, by the BDF to the Ministry of National Security, claimed that the patrol was ambushed by 7 armed men believed to be Guatemalan nationals.

On April 20, 2016, seven BDF soldiers and seven FCD rangers were destroying farms within Belizean territory in the Cebada area when they came under fire. The patrol returned fire and, unfortunately, a 13-year-old Guatemalan minor was killed.

Yesterday, Wednesday, with regards to the death of the Guatemalan minor, the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, announced in a press release that, “he will proceed immediately with the identification and deployment of the appropriate experts to carry out the investigation as soon as possible.”

However, to date, there has been no official investigation by the OAS into the near-fatal shooting of Belizean Sergeant Lambey over a month ago.

Yesterday, Wednesday, Brigadier General David Jones, Commander of the BDF, told the press, “we have not gotten an official report from the OAS in regards to Mr. Lambey’s shooting incident yet. What they have confirmed preliminary and what we’ve heard preliminary, is not official; that it was a deliberate ambush, that they intended to kill him, and they wanted to kill one of the members of our patrol. The detailed report has not been forthcoming yet, and we’re still waiting for that.”