7 News Belize

Hon. Elrington Has To Speak To Panamanian Counterparts
posted (November 25, 2014)
And while the narrative and the confession from the 18 year old should serve to ease the scare in the diplomatic community - the ugly details make it no easier for Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington who has to communicate the news to his Panamanian counterpart.

Today, we caught Elrington as he was heading into a cabinet meeting.

He told us that he has been in contact with the Panamanian Government to assure them that the authorities in Belize are doing all they can to bring De La Rosa's killer to justice:

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"My understanding is that he was seeing leaving his apartment at the Marina Towers on Sunday morning and then his body was found sometime on Sunday afternoon. So it was a 12 hour period within which this incident occurred. It's a very unfortunate situation. We are very saddened about it, exceedingly saddened. I had met the Ambassador, he was only been here for a brief while and I think everybody who came across him were impressed with him. They liked him very much and he was very enthusiastic, he really wanted to get the airline coming out of Panama into Belize as quickly as possible. I know that's a project he was working on with a great deal of enthusiasm. I was very disappointed to hear of his passing. Our police have been doing excellent work, however and I am told they are just about to charge someone for the offence. They have recovered his cell phone, they have recovered the vehicle and they have gotten a caution statement, so if there is anything that is good about that situation, it is that in fact police have done an excellent job in seeming to resolve that problem."

Reporter
"Have you been shared the details as to how he was murdered or why?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"No, I don't have that information and generally that is information which is not necessarily shared with us, but I spoke to the Vice President who is also the foreign minister yesterday, I gave her the information which we had up to that date and today we will be sending off more information to her."

Elrington told us that the Panamanian Foreign Minister informed him that a new Charge D' Affairs will be sent to Belize shortly to act in De La Rosa's absence. Elrington also does not believe that the diplomat's killing will affect the relationship between Belize and Panama.

Getting back to the relationship between the deceased and the suspect, Chavarria's family says that he used to work for a security company which used to provide security services for the Panama Embassy. He was posted at the Panamanian Embassy, and that's where he came into contact with Jose Rodrigo De la Rosa Stanford. His family claims that they had no other encounter or interactions before Sunday evening when De La Rosa allegedly offered him a ride and a drink.

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