Dear Editor,
In the light of irrefutable evidence gathered by the officer in charge of San Ignacio ASP Dinsdale Thompson, the refusal of the Government to acknowledge that Guatemalan poachers are responsible for the murder of Tourism Police Officer Danny Conorquie while he was on duty at the Caracol Maya site is shocking and indicative of its fear of holding the Guatemalans to task for anything, including the murder of an on-duty law enforcement officer by one its citizens.
Everyday Guatemalans are the people that cross deeper and deeper into Belize illegally to make milpas and extract xate leaves and precious timber from our forest unlawfully. It is also a fact that those Guatemalan poachers have repeatedly pulled machetes and shot at Belizean law enforcement officials who try to stop their illegal activity in the country.
Only hours before the fatal shooting at the Maya site, Guatemalan poachers had become enraged because our law enforcement officials had confiscated five of the horses that they left behind as they ran off into the bushes to escape detention for illegal activity in our territory. Therefore, Belizeans are left to wonder how, in all good conscience, the leaders of this country can say that they have no idea who is responsible for the cold-blooded murder of the on-duty tourism officer at that Maya site.
By being too cowardly to acknowledge that Guatemalan poachers are responsible for the murder of the young tourism officer at the archaeological site, our leaders are saying that when it comes to Guatemala, which claims our country, the lives of law enforcement officials of this nation are not important.
Their weak response to the tragedy that unfolded at Caracol also sends a message to the Guatemalan poachers that they are free to continue their plunder of our country and attack and even murder Belizean law enforcement officials who try to halt their illegal activity within our borders.
This is indeed a sellout of Belize to Guatemala in 2014.
Sincerely yours,
Joan Plunket
Ontario Village
Cayo District, Belize
30/9/14
