BELIZE CITY, Thurs. June 4, 2020– Reports out of the Belize Defence Force (BDF) in January confirmed that there has been major disciplinary breakdown at a recruit training camp for new intakes into the army. Allegations were made of extortion, maltreatment, sexual assault, and sexual advances on the part of senior officers at Price Barracks, who were in charge of training the new recruits.
After the allegations were made public in the media, the Ministry of National Security launched an investigation into the allegations.
On Monday, June 1, the Ministry of National Security issued a press release saying that it has concluded its investigation into the allegations of misconduct within the BDF.
The report, however, has not been made public, and neither was there any immediate comment from the BDF high command.
The Ministry’s press release said: “The investigation recognizes that some progress was made in response to the victims of the alleged misconduct and highlights the need for more targeted organizational and strategic changes for progress to continue. Furthermore, the investigation points to some wrongdoings and negligence by personnel within the units involved. These are being addressed internally by the Belize Defence Force and the Belize Police Department where appropriate.”
The press release went on to explain that a critical part of institutionalization is standardization and policy implementation across all military services.
Amandala attempted to speak to someone at Price Barracks who could explain what the report has accomplished, other than an admission that something had gone very wrong in the BDF over a period of time, and we wanted to know if anyone would face criminal charges, since the Ministry’s press release mentioned that matters will be dealt with internally and by the Belize Police Department, where appropriate.
When we called Price Barracks, we were told to contact an officer by the name of Brandon Garcia, who is authorized to speak to the media. We tried speaking with Garcia, but our efforts were futile.
The history of investigations of themselves by our security forces when their wrongdoings have been exposed does not inspire much hope that anything will be done to address those wrongdoings, since those investigations have generally led nowhere.
Feature photo: BDF General Steven Ortega (Photo: channel5belize.com)