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BDF Commander Not Intimidated By Guat Troop Buildup
Wed, April 27, 2016

Today’s OAS press release ended with the OAS Secretary General calling on both sides to, quote, “redouble the confidence building measures in place to prevent future confrontations or situations that could put at risk the peace and stability between the two countries.â€￾  But while the OAS churns out its now familiar peace-keeping platitudes with clockwork regularity, the reality on the  ground is that 500 additional Guatemalan Troops have been deployed to the 35 communities adjacent to Belize’s western border.  That’s 500 more than the 500 which were there, making it one thousand total.  And while it may sound intimidating, the BDF Commander says that may actually increase the peace:..

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander - BDF
"Having their soldiers over on their side is not of concern to us because it actually will help our cause in stopping their people from coming over. They've deployed in the area but they are operating in their side of the border. So we are operating in Belize, they are operating in Guatemala. They've expressed that they’re going to try and ascertain information what's happening along all those communities and this will be a move that may assist us because it will assist them in trying to stop their people from coming over because that's the root cause or the problem. Where we have people over there who want to seek better standards of living and better means of survival and that better opportunity is over here in Belize; however it creates friction, it creates problem when they are over in Belize. If they are without firearms and they are not aggressive to the patrol our soldiers treat them humanely but then they attack or aggressive our patrol especially with firearms, our patrol are going to return fire; so our rules on engagement is not going to change. As long as we are fired upon, as long as our lives are in danger, we're going to respond and unfortunately there may be fatalities if such incidents do occur."

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