7 News Belize

Backdoor Prisoner Exchange in PG?
posted (September 5, 2011)
Belize has no extradition agreement with Guatemala - or any other Central American country for that matter - and so our colleagues at PGTV are asking how is it that Guatemalan Cesar Eligio Marcel Garcia was handed over to Guatemalan police right inside Punta Gorda Town?

PGTV reports that Garcia is wanted in Guatemala for a murder and Belizean authorities cooperated by arresting him and handing him over to their Guatemalan counterparts.

According to PGTV, On Friday at 4:00, three Guatemalan police arrived in Punta Gorda on a private boat with the family of the murder victim and picked up Garcia, who is known in PG as a street musician.

So, under what terms, or through what arrangement was he handed over?

For answers, we tried to reach the officer commanding in Punta Gorda, superintendent Robert Mariano for comment but he was out of office - and could not be contacted via cell phone. The Police Press Officer also did not comment when asked directly about it. But we do know that - in western Belize at least - where the communities of Melchor Del Menchos and Benque Viejo have close relations, these types of exchanges happen - informally and without fanfare - from time to time.

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