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BDF Trying to Hold Down 51 Miles Of Border
Fri, October 17, 2014
But in the meantime, the Belize Defence Force has to defend against civilian incursions along the 133 miles of border the country shares with Guatemala.

Statistically, the problem areas are focused along 51 miles of that 133. That is the hotspot where mass illegal incursions and activities continue to happen. Among that 51-mile slice includes the border areas of the famous Chiquibul National Park, the Caracol Archaeological Reserve and the Bladden Nature Reserve. Of that 51 mile hotspot, 19 miles of the border demarcation belongs to the Chiquibul, which remains under constant pressure.

The BDF Commander discussed how the fight at the Belize Guatemala frontier has been going from a military stand-point:

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander, Belize Defence Force
"Apart from the areas in the Chiquibul, the entire north and south of the country - there is a lot of contraband activities happening cross border between Belize/Guatmala, also between Belize and Mexico and there is a lot of drug trafficking activity that occurs in these areas. What I want to just point out briefly looking at the map behind us, this area from the north up there is the border with Mexico where the Rio Hondo starts. The entire length of the border from north to the south to where Cadenas is - is approximately about 144 miles. of that distance the border we share with Guatemala is approximately 133 miles. Out of that is border that we share. The area of main concern today is the area of the protected areas; the reserves and the national forest which starts from the Vaca area up here and then extends down south to the Colombia River Forest Reserve. That area encompasses just over 51 miles of where we have major concerns and that's where a lot of our efforts in the Cayo District is concentrated because of the encroachments and the illegal activity in that particular area. Bear in mind the operations the BDF conduct is not only along the border, we conduct operations in every district of the country and this is alongside members of the police department, forestry, fisheries and other non government organizations to include FCD, NICH, TIDE and any other NGO who wants protection from the Belize Defence Force in regards to launching their operations we provide that sort of security for them."

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