7 News Belize

Caracol’s Own Conservation Post Opened
posted (July 24, 2015)
When Special Constable Danny Conorquie was killed by Guatemalan border bandits at the Caracol Mayan Site in late 2014 - it left a wound on the national psyche: the first lawman in decades to be killed by Guatemalans while on duty.

A few weeks later, Government commenced construction of the Caracol Conservation Post inside the Caracol Archaeological Reserve, a facility where a regiment of BDF Soldiers could be posted as a rapid response to defend the site.

And now, today, almost 10 months after Danny's murder, the Government officially opened the frontier conservation post for operations. 7News was there for that ceremony, and we got the chance to see it for the first time. Daniel Ortiz has the story:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
The Caracol Conservation Post, it's a new facility that now makes up a part of the Caracol National Park.

It was built with the intention of increasing the security of the Tourism site, and to address the concerns raised by the Tourism Police Unit about the dangers posed by cross-border bandits.

The finished facility is as a result of a collaboration between government agencies under the Ministries of National Security and Tourism & Culture.

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism and Culture
"The successful opening of this project is the result of a year of hard work and cooperation between partners, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, the Ministry of National Security, NICH, the Ministry of Finance and the Forestry Department."

"It is hope that we placed more infrastructure and presence in this area that louting, pillaging and exploitation of national forest and heritage will seized. It is also very important to address the tourism aspect of this particular initiative. Safety of our visitors is also of utmost concern and this conservation post will go a long way in making our guest, our tour operators, our tours guides and our valued partners to feel much safer, knowing that our security forces are nearby to assist in any way possible."

Hon. John Saldivar - Minister of National Security
"It's in deed a pleasure for me to be here this morning, joining with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation and NICH in the opening of this very important conservation post."

"The Ministry of National Security is happy to be a part of this collaborative effort, that will see us provide more security for the Caracol site, its visitors and staff and employees."

But, while it will better secure the Caracol Park, slain Lawman Danny Conorquie will not enjoy that benefit. The Government freely acknowledges that, and the fact that his murder fast tracked this facility.

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism and Culture
"It is very difficult to not mention the unfortunate loss of one of our own Tourism Police Special Constable Danny Conorquie last year. I would like to humbly ask all of us to stand and take a moment of silence to honor and pay respect to the life of Mr. Danny Conorquie and to all those men and women whom have served and continue to serve our country with honor."

Hon. John Saldivar - Minister of National Security
"It is timely and perhaps certainly a little too late, in terms of what the Minister had said earlier about the death of Danny Conorquie. But it is a step in the right direction to protect those that now come to this facility."

So, What are the capabilities of the building?

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism and Culture
"The facility includes sleeping quarters, showers, bathrooms, radio and other amenities."

Dr. John Morris - Director, Institute of Archaeology
"It is design to house the members of the Belize Defence Force, so that they can patrol the Caracol Archaeological Reserve, the site core and also the surrounding areas, because remember that we are very close to the Guatemalan border and we have always had people coming across interfering with our operations here at the reserve or looting and damaging some of the sites in the reserve. And so with the BDF out here and with the Tourism Police and other Police constables, we have beefed up the security measures here to prevent all of those kinds of things and we have seen a very sizeable decreased in movement of people from across the border within this area."

"It's a living quarters, but it also have a radio room and so the BDF are able to communicate back and forth with their base and also too for us, to be able to communicate with our rangers via radio and telephone. So it's designed for that. You can see the antenna on top of the building there."

36 soldiers will make tours out at this conservation post. They will be able to make an immediate and rapid response to any incidents of national security. Back up can be quickly called in, if that is necessary

Lt. Col. Luis Sutherland - Acting Deputy Commander, BDF
"We've forecasted the amount of personnel, the amount of soldiers that will be used to man this. So, it shouldn't be a problem, because currently we have enough man power to provide three proper rotations."

Daniel Ortiz
"In each rotation, how many soldiers at one time?"

Lt. Col. Luis Sutherland - Acting Deputy Commander, BDF
"At any one time we will have 12 soldiers and these 12 soldiers will be complimented with 4 personnel from the special patrol unit of the police department, as well as one person from the tourism police unit."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, talk to us about the abilities to respond when situations arises if they ever do?"

Lt. Col. Luis Sutherland - Acting Deputy Commander, BDF
"We again, a part from the personnel who will be manning this CP, we have personnel on standby at 30 minutes to move and also at 1 hour notice to move."

That will be important because Caracol gets an average of 15,000 to 20,000 visitors annually.

Dr. Allan Moore - Associate Director, Institute of Archaeology
"Statistics has it that in 2014 we had approximately 10,787 visitors - paying visitors. Belizeans alike foreigners. Of those 7,731 were foreign visitors, paying visitors."

NICH staff built the conservation post for a total cost of 100 thousand dollars.

Apart from providing security for the Caracol National Park, this facility serves another strategic purpose. It will assist the police, soldiers and the Friends for Conservation and Development to protect the larger Caracol area.

Here's how that will work:

Lt. Col. Luis - Acting Deputy Commander, BDF
"This CP, it will enhanced our operational capabilities. As the Minister stated, it will provide comfort to the soldier and I use the word comfort very cautiously, because not too comfort to be relaxed. We will be comfortable. The physical structure, the building will provide protection from the elements, it will give the soldier the environment to have adequate rest. We all can appreciate if we don't have enough rest, you will be unable to performed effectively, so certainly this building that we received earlier, it will enhanced our operational capability. It will provide an atmosphere for the soldiers and an environment that they can rest and in so doing, they will be able to react much better as we have done in the past."

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