In keeping with its habit of fomenting trouble between Belize and Guatemala at their western border, the sensation-seeking Guatemalan newspaper, La Prensa Libre, reported inaccurately that on Monday, August 22, a Guatemalan citizen had been wounded in the Adjacency Zone, on the Guatemalan side of the border, by a Belizean military patrol.
On Monday, August 22, 2011, the Belize Defence Force reported an incursion into Belize territory in the Chiquibul area of the Sapote Camp by armed illegal Guatemalans carrying weapons, one with a prohibited assault rifle, an AK-47, and stated that they (the Guatemalans) had opened fire on them.
The Belizean soldiers had no choice but to return fire, and they wounded the individual with the AK-47, after which the BDF retreated into the jungle, away from the suspected illegal Guatemalans.
Today, Thursday, the Government of Belize issued a press release that stated that according to the BDF report, the incident occurred “east of the Adjacency Line, on Belizean territory, where 5 Guatemalans on motorcycles, armed with high caliber AK-47 weapons, approached the area threatening the members of the Belize Defence Force patrol, who were there to conduct a linkup with the Guatemalan Armed Forces in accordance with the Confidence Building Measures agreed to between both countries.”
The report, said GOB, “further states that after repeated warnings from the BDF to stop, the Guatemalans continued to advance on the BDF personnel, who were forced to act in accordance with their rules of engagement.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belize expresses its concern about the incident, saying that it “is indicative of an increasing trend of illegal activity by Guatemalan nationals within Belizean territory.”
The release ends with the Belizean government asking the Guatemalan government to “put in place the necessary mechanisms to dissuade its nationals from entering illegally into Belizean territory and for its nationals to respect the Belizean law enforcement authorities.”
Colonel Javier Castellanos, the Deputy Commander of the BDF, told us that at the routine quarterly meeting which was held yesterday, Wednesday, this time in Guatemala, led by an Organization of American States representative, the main objective of the meeting was not to place blame for the shooting of the Guatemalan, but rather for routine information-sharing.
“The purpose of the meeting is to plan joint patrols that we conduct along the borders with the Guatemalan Armed Forces. That is one aim. The other aim is to review incidents that have occurred in the last three months that could be of concern for both,” Colonel Castellanos told us today. “The aim was not to decide who was right or who was wrong … at the end of the day, when there is an allegation, the OAS will conduct a verification.”
Under the auspices of the OAS, Belize and Guatemala, in an effort to create and maintain confidence building at the borders with each other, have been conducting linkup patrols in which Guatemalan armed forces and the BDF meet up at an assigned area and exchange information about the happenings on both sides. Coincidentally, the BDF were on their way to conduct a linkup when they stumbled into the illegal Guatemalans, so the mission was abandoned.
However, today we learned from Colonel Castellanos that the BDF and the Guatemalan Armed Forces did go back into the same area of Sapote Camp today, and carried through with their initial linkup mission, which, he said, was successful.
This successful linkup, Castellanos told us, demonstrates “that the situation is being managed at a professional level.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Guatemala released their official document on Tuesday, August 23, 2011, which, translated from Spanish to English, reads, in part: “It expresses concern over the incident that occurred on August 22, 2011, at 11:00, in the jurisdiction of San Jose Las Flores, located in the Adjacency Zone, in which, according to the information gathered so far by the Ministry of Defence of Guatemala, a patrol of the Belize Defence Force raided the home of Mr. Roberto Felipe Gutierrez and fired several shots, wounding in the hand Mr. Luis Alberto Garcia Pineda.”
The government release went on to request the assistance of the OAS in conducting an investigation into this matter, so as to hold whoever is responsible, accountable for their actions.
The release continued in requesting the Government of Belize to instruct its Defence Force to, “strictly adhere to the Confidence Building Measures in effect, and that they respect the human rights of people living in the Adjacency Zone between our countries, while we await a resolution to the existing territorial dispute that will be submitted to the International Court of Justice [ICJ]….”
Belize’s Ambassador to Guatemala, Alfredo Martinez, is presently in Guatemala engaging in ongoing discussions with his counterparts, along with ministers and defence commandants from both countries. He told us that the Guatemalan government has not declared any real position until the results of the OAS’ investigation into the matter is complete.
Minister of Defence, Carlos Perdomo told us that historically, La Prensa Libre is quick to condemn Belizean security forces:
“The report from La Prensa Libre that we were in Guatemalan territory is absolutely false, because the home where we were is the home of Mr. Rigoberto Gutierrez, a Guatemalan, who is a known person to us living in the adjacency zone [approximately 400 meters] on the Belizean side, and that location of that home has already been verified by the OAS as being in the Belize side, so that is very untruthful, but the La Prensa Libre is always anti-Belizean.”
According to La Prensa Libre, the Guatemalan injured in the shooting is Luis Alberto Garcia Pineda, 21, who allegedly told them that they had been in San Jose Las Flores, Chiquibul, in Melchor de Mencos, Guatemala, when he was shot by the BDF soldiers.
Pineda allegedly told them that he and four other villagers had learned from neighbors that BDF soldiers had detained three minors, and when he and the other four men were about 300 yards away from the BDF, the soldiers just opened fire, and one of them shot him.
Prensa Libre’s “flights of fancy” went further: they reported that Pineda alleged to them that the BDF soldiers forced him and his four friends to kneel and beg for the release of the children.
However, according to Minister Perdomo, the BDF were operating in an area of Sapote Camp when they reached the home of Gutierrez and saw three children, two little girls and one boy in his teens.
According to Perdomo, the two minors ran into the bushes, purportedly to call upon their elders, while the teenager stayed seated beside the house near a chainsaw. Meanwhile a few Belizean soldiers were searching the house and others were spread out in the bushes, as is customary; this is when the five illegal Guatemalans arrived with weapons in their hands, the minister said.
Perdomo told us, “There was certainly a new development as far as the motorcycles, and the initial report that we have to verify with the BDF is that they, the BDF, are talking about men on motorcycles with AK-47s; now, the AK-47 is a very high-caliber, dangerous weapon, and the BDF, on seeing that, judged that their lives were in danger, and they retreated, and they didn’t just run — they did it military style, where they retreated under the cover of shots.”
According to Ambassador Martinez, “Belize has on many occasions already informed the Guatemalan authorities that we are facing increasing incursions in the area and that some of these incursions are not necessarily farmers looking for livelihood, but some of these people that go in there are going in there to seek refuge from…criminal activity; or themselves are the perpetrators of the crimes.”
Ambassador Martinez continued by explaining that thus far the discussions between both country representatives in Guatemala are going smoothly and that, “It has not transcended into any major diplomatic ground.”
There is no clear indication as to when the OAS investigation will be concluded. We asked Minister Perdomo if the OAS’ investigation does reveal that the Guatemalans were on Belizean territory at the time of the shooting, along with the AK-47, which is prohibited in Belize, whether or not criminal charges will be pursued against the Guatemalans. He replied, “Of course.”