Dear Editor,

I write in regards to an article in the Sunday, June 5, 2016 Amandala. The article is entitled “Belize experienced its first act of Guatemalan terrorism on May 2, 1998” and is written by Micah Goodin.

I just wanted to clarify two things. First, what happened was pure and simply a heinous criminal act; it was not terrorism. Terrorism is defined as the use of violence, or threatened use of violence, in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. The robbery, as elaborate as it was and obviously involving persons with prior military experience, in no shape or form can be considered terrorism.

Secondly, in his article, the writer claims that the robbers fled after the unfortunate shooting of Genaro Che. However, they fled after a police response vehicle showed up on the scene, exchanged fire with the gunmen and killed (or seriously injured) one of the gunmen.

Yours,

Glenda Parham