Next week, Belize's National Negotiating team goes to the OAS in Washington for a high level meeting with their Guatemalan counterparts under the auspices of the OAS.
A series of recent border incidents have set the stage for what is expected to be a tense, tough meeting. Both major incidents have happened on the Belize side of the border where first, A Guatemalan Luis Alberto Ramirez was shot and killed by a BDF soldier, and second, 20 Guatemalan Gold Panners were found in the southern Chiquibul forest.
The bigger issue is the Ramirez shooting death and today the OAS sent out its fourth press release on the subject in a week - and they finally got it right!
The release says, correctly, that the incident took place in the Toledo District and it resulted in the death of one Guatemalan and the arrest of two others who were charged with illegal entry into the country and illegal logging in a protected national park.
Today at a special sitting of the House of Representatives - on a statement of public interest, Foreign Minister Elrington provided an official narrative of the event. It happened eight days ago and it's the first time that such an account has been given of what happened. Three BDF soldiers were on a patrol in the Machaquilha area when they heard Chainsaws. They went to investigate on a place called Sapodilla Hill and here's what happened next:..
Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"The officers went to investigate the source of the sound and in doing so they saw someone cleaning a trail from the direction from where the sound was heard. One member of the BDF patrol was posted as sentry in the area of the trail while the other two continued in the direction from which the sound was coming. They climb a nearby hill and on reaching the top of the hil they saw two persons of Hispanic descent. One of them was in possession of a chainsaw and the other was in possession of a machete. One of the BDF soldiers shouted to the two persons and also fired a shot in the air to signal their presence in the area. However the person with the chainsaw did not comply with the warning giving the noise apparently of the chainsaw. The BDF proceeded to conduct a search of the two persons and found a small quantity of marijuana, cigarette, measuring tape, two chainsaws and chainsaw tools. During this time the sentry that stayed behind was heard requesting support announcing in his Maya Mopan language that he was being threaten by an armed person."
"One of the BDF who was with the two detained return to provide support. During his return he was closing of the witness shooting by the BDF sentry officer of a person who was pointing a firearm at the sentry. The approaching seeing the fell person proceeding to disarm the person of a machete and a shotgun and retrieving it he unloaded a live 410 cartridge that was inside the weapon. The vital signs of the persons were inspected at which time he was confirm as appearing dead."
"On 20th July immigration officers charge the two detain persons for the offences of illegal entry and both have remained remanded until 27th August, 2012 as they pleaded not guilty to the charge. Forestry officers are yet to levy charge on both detainees for the use of illegal logging for the offence of illegal logging. On 21st July police Scenes of Crimes, a representative of the OAS, representative of the Guatemalan Embassy and BDF personnel visited the area of Sapodilla Hill where the shooting incident occurred to process and reconstruct the scene. Copies of the statement from both the Guatemalan nationals and BDF soldiers and other supporting documents were handed over to the department of public persecutions for initial review and advice. We are advice that the case file has now been reviewed and the investigating officer has given additional task to complete before submitting the case file to the office of the director of public persecutions for final review and advice."
According to Elrington, Guatemalans Jose Antonio Sosa, 60 and Jorge Mondray Ramos, 33 are pending charged for illegal logging.
The OAS says that quote, "a detailed report with the results of the investigation is being prepared and will be submitted shortly to the governments of Belize and Guatemala, although initial findings confirm that the incident took place more than 3 km from the Adjacency Line outside the Adjacency Zone administered by Belize; that the Guatemalan citizens were felling trees in a protected national park; and that the deceased Guatemalan citizen was carrying two firearms at the time that he was confronted by the BDF." End quote.
They also note that during the autopsy of the deceased, a Guatemalan forensic doctor was present.
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