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And tonight we’ve given you a few important snapshots of what happened in Orange Walk. But in our next story, we take the broader view and look at the situation in the morning as it turned into a deadly and tragic afternoon.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
The battle lines were drawn from before dawn at three points in the north, the Tower Hill Bridge, the Honey Camp/Santa Estevan junction and mile 58 on the Northern Highway, known as Indian Hill. The farmers blocked the roads at all three points with cane trucks and burning tires. The police maintained restraint and set up a command point about four miles south of the Tower Hill Bridge.

A last ditch meeting was held in Orange walk Town just after noon with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Cane Farmers’ Association. No solution or compromise was arrived at and the mob rushed Vega’s vehicle as he was leaving. At a 2:00 pm press conference, the Prime Minister warned that the restraint of the police would end at 4:00 pm:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“Please, for the sake of continued order in this country, call it off by four this afternoon and let us meet first thing tomorrow morning. If that appeal falls on deaf ears, I say again the security forces of this country will do what they have to do.”

And by 3:30 – the cane farmers had pre-empted the police action, setting fire to these BSI canfields and setting after the cane factory. Police responded with live fire – sending the farmers running for their lives.

[Video with sound of gunshots.]

Man #1,
“The police officers are shooting at us. They are shooting.”

Damian Gough who works in the factory told us what started the confrontation.

Damien Gough, Witness
“Apparently a pickup filled with about six or so cane farmers showedup, a confrontation ensued between them and the police. The cane farmers were found to have, I think, some machetes with them and the police tried to take control of the situation, threw some of them to the ground and handcuffed them and tied them up. I understand they even fired even a couple of warning shots to get control of the situation.

But what that incident did was provoke the situation because from there all the cane farmers that were down at the Toll Bridge packed up in their vehicles and started speeding towards BSI. And now as you can see, at the entrance of the BSI compound itself, at the intersection, they managed to get control of one of the tractavators and are actually pushing the barriers back and police are actually firing back at them.”

And the sight of blood and injured being carted out created desperate moments and enraged the farmers.

Man #2,
“But the way they are doing, the government is doing this. It is not fair for us. We are Belizeans and if we have to die here, we will.”

Patrick Jones, Love FM
“Why did they start to shoot unu though, why?”

Man #3,
“Why? Because we are trying to stop them or they were knocking our friends. One was down and they were knocking him and then we come to defend him. The police shoot him with real bullets. 12 gauge and this like if we are terrorists and we are not terrorists.”

Man #4,
“They shoot my friend here. We just wanted to make things clear. We just went there because they arrested a man there.”

And those arrestees who took control of the tractorvator went to destroy the core sampler within the BSI compound and were caught by police provided the spark that set off this keg of gunpowder. Their friends urgent attempt to rescue them in this cane truck was foiled when police opened fire and that’s right where Antonio Gutierrez was killed in the back of the truck. His father told us what happened.

Father,
[Translated] “They are saying that the bullet entered his face and came out the next side and he died. A pickup carried him to the hospital. He had no gun and he was without a gun.”

Michael Peyrefitte was in the pickup which took him away.

Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney
“Today I saw a man get shot in the head right in front of me. He fell on the ground immediately, we took him to the hospital, he was dead. He died instantly and it is totally unnecessary for this to happen. The cane farmers would better know what the situation is as it pertains to the conflict between them and the police. But I saw another Belizean die today and I am saddened by that.”

And when Magana went to address the crowd, they were still enraged but he had news of a compromise – that the PM had agreed to complete suspension of the use of the core sampler.

Carlos Magana, CEO – Cane Farmers Assoc.
“That the core sampler will not be used for the rest of this year.”

Keith Swift,
I thought the farmers had already rejected that and they wanted it gone forever.

Carlos Magana,
“Well at least it can give us a little relief at this point due to the way the mob is. At this point they are accepting it. What they are saying is if we can release the individuals that are in there.”

Coming unto 5:30 pm, cane farmers were still going back to the factory with their hands up as a sign of surrender, wanting to check on those men. Through the efforts of Mike Peyreffite, They released those individuals around 6:00. The riot squad held the line on the Northern Approach to the Tower Hill Bridge but the bonfires still raged on the highway.

Since we put together that story early this morning, some new facts have come to light in the press conference – which corrects the information we had in there. First according to police it was a green pickup truck not a tractorvator that carried the crew that went to try and dismantle the core sampler. Critical, because the detention of that group sparked everything off. Also police say they don’t know when Gutierrez was shot – and while it cannot be certain that it happened when the cane truck sped by – his body was found on the side of the road in the same area that police were firing at the cane truck.