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From there, the trip quickly deteriorated. They were then placed under arrest, after which they had to spend a night in lockdown. All the time, they had to deal with the fear that they would not be released any time soon. Fortunately, the men accepted guilt for the charge, and with the intervention of Belize's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they were released about 24 hours later. 7News today travelled to the home of 3 of the men in Punta Gorda, where they described their ordeal for us in detail:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
These men, Ray Martinez, Mitchell Romero, and Ashton McKenzie, are 3 of 5 who were detained and arrested in Guatemala this weekend, and they were released and allowed to return home only after the intervention of the Belizean Government. The men described in detail how a routine trip across the Jalacte border, something which is normal for Toledo residents, went bad.

Ray Martinez - Was Detained by GAF
"We had simply made a trip. We had two other guys. The two others guys are not here and it was a first trip for one of them to the border. So we decided to spend the day driving through Toledo District and end up there, have him experience what most Belizeans in the Toledo District do on a daily basis; the go across, have a meal and enjoy with family and so on. That was what we were doing when we were at a restaurant having lunch, because we had skip lunch from town - something that is totally routine in that part of the country."

That's when they encountered the Guatemalan military, who accused them of being drunk and disorderly. The Belizeans completely reject that accusation. They say that the soldiers made that up as a false premise to detain them.

Ray Martinez - Was Detained by GAF
"We saw military personnel while in this establishment and they came rushing in and demanded that we exit the place because we are in Guatemalan territory according to them."

Mitchell Santiago Romero - Was Detained by GAF
"At no point we were intoxicated or anything like that. So the information which has been released stating that we were intoxicated and behaving disorderly is totally incorrect. We were simply there having a meal."

Ray Martinez - Was Detained by GAF
"That is where they came in and insisted that we leave. Since we were there, the plan was to purchase sodas and stuff for the upcoming father's day and that was when Mitchell, since he could speak the Spanish language, he asked on our way out if we could purchase. When we approached that place, that is when another supervising officer came in and he appeared intoxicated and demanded that they surround and detained us for being there. They made us this entire story that we were intoxicated and so on to detain us."

According to the men, the Guatemalan Soldiers marched them 4 miles into the heart of Guatemala. They suspect that they were subjected to this because the Guatemalan soldiers were manipulating the system of OAS intervention. They did this so that they could appear to be in the right once the impartial investigation is completed.

Mitchell Santiago Romero - Was Detained by GAF
"The point here is that we were not fully detained at that particular location, because according to information that I received we have this Belize/Guatemala adjacency zone in which if any Guatemalan military personnel were to find a Belizean there, they must escort them back to the border and let them exit the country. But what they did was after rounding us up, they made us run 4 miles into Guatemala. That's where they verbally abused us, they threaten to shoot us."

Ashton Akeem McKenzie - Was Detained by GAF
"It was extremely frightening. I mean running 4 miles with weapons pointed at you and there was one point at which we stop and we were instructed to face like the grass portion and the superior officer instructed those below him to crank their weapons, then aim. I was shocked. I have never been that close to weapon and a situation like that in the past. So, it was extremely frightening for me, but I must commend my colleagues for maintaining their composure and their cooperation throughout the course of our detention over there in Guatemala."

Ray Martinez - Was Detained by GAF
"It was one of the worst experiences I ever had and I guess the guys would share the same feeling that we had to keep up with the pace of military trained men and I must say that they were extremely fit and the pace was a fast going pace and it's a very mountainous terrain. So, imagine 4 miles of that, of you keeping pace to military men. We haven't had any water. We just had lunch and we were a bit full and all of that. They insisted that if we ever slowed down or anything... there were instances where they had the gun right behind our heads to ensure that we kept that pace. So it was extremely scary."

After that, the men were handed over to the police who charged them with the offense of being disorderly:

Ray Martinez - Was Detained by GAF
"They explained to us that we had to go to the court house to be charged for an offence. The crime that we were being charged for by the arresting officer was totally incorrect and false. He told a blatant lie. We didn't have any drinks or anything there. It was simply for lunch, to do some shopping and return to Belize and he said that we were intoxicated and being hostile and disrespectful at a bar. In Belize we've never been in such situations. We've never done things like that, so why would we go and do that in a foreign country?"

Mitchell Santiago Romero - Was Detained by GAF
"We had to accept the charges that were levied upon us. In the event that we had refuse to accept these charges, then we would have stayed another 3-4 days so as for them to execute a proper investigation. Now, based on our judgment, we don't want to stay there another 3-4 days, so we said, well, if these are the charges which was five hundred Quetzales each, we will pay it and just leave."

The men are convinced that their experience shows them once again that whenever Belizeans are at their mercy, the Guatemalan authorities make all efforts to detain and jail those persons, which isn't the same treatment that Guatemalans get on this side of the border.

Ray Martinez - Was Detained by GAF
"If they cross over into our territory and all of that, we simply turn them back. The law enforcement agency at our border, but with them, it was extremely uncalled for. It was extremely harsh. It was something that they treated us quite badly and unfairly at that, because we weren't there to cause any trouble. It was simply a trip that went sour real quickly."

Daniel Ortiz
"It's routinely something that everyone does. But do you all accept that it is illegal, strictly speaking illegal and that once you enter that territory, it's kind of no-man's land - you are on your own?"

Ray Martinez - Was Detained by GAF
"To speak to that the legality would have to be established in my opinion. Even our soldiers' base there is what they term as Guatemalan side. There is a street that runs through the hills, you pass a cemetery and in our opinion as Belizeans, it is Belizean territory. But there are Guatemalan shops established in that region. So I think that we need to establish where our borders are. Don't take that chance that we took, saying that it's a no-man's land in essence and you could face that same treatment. We are very fortunate to be back."

The Foreign Affairs Ministry was engaged later in the evening, and they assisted in trying to get all 5 men back on Belizean Soil. Yesterday morning, they were arraigned on the offence called "una falta contra las buenas costumbres", which roughly translates to "an offence against decency". They paid the accompanying fine for that guilty plea, and were escorted to the Western Border between Melchor De Mencos and Benque Viejo Town. The men couldn't be taken back to Jalacte because, as we told you, that's not an official border point.