The Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week appealed to the Organization of American States (OAS) to investigate an armed confrontation between a team of Belize Defence Force (BDF) soldiers accompanying Belizean conservationists and illegal Guatemalan loggers very near to the Belize-Guatemala border, in the much raped Columbia River Forest Reserve in Toledo.
The Ya’axché Conservation Trust reported to Amandala today that Guatemalan loggers and xateros had fired on the BDF and forest rangers in Toledo. (For more, see story…)
This evening, chief executive officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexis Rosado, told Amandala that the BDF has reported the incident to the Ministry, which has, in turn, called on the OAS to do a “verification of the incident and establish the facts.”
According to Rosado, this is not the first time such an incident has happened, though things have been relatively quiet on the border of late.
“We are naturally concerned about [the incident],” said Rosado. “We do know that particular area is dangerous.”
Rosado said that the illegal poachers are oftentimes Guatemalan peasants, who very often know the terrain, are armed, and most of all, know all the loopholes to penetrate and take advantage of.
He said that the Ministry has been informed that one Guatemalan was injured, though not fatally.
The Belize Embassy in Guatemala, said Rosado, has received the report of the incident, as well as the Government of Belize’s request to the OAS to investigate. This information, said Rosado, has likely been communicated to the Guatemalan government.
The OAS is still the go-between agency between Belize and Guatemala, for a set of so-called “confidence building” measures that officials claim are intended to mitigate tensions between Belize and Guatemala.