7 News Belize

General: 13 Year Old Was Not Killed By BDF Weapon. General Says OAS Report Will Vindicate His Army
posted (August 23, 2016)
Last night, we told you that the independent OAS team of experts has completed their investigation into the fatal shooting of 13 year-old Guatemalan Julio Ruano. That's the shooting which happened in April of this year inside the Cebada area of the Chiquibul Forest, which caused the Guatemalan President and his senior diplomats to accuse the BDF soldiers of murder and human rights violations.

A press release from the Government of Belize said that the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, would be making a statement on it, but up to news time this tonight, no such comment has been forthcoming. They did tweet these photographs of a meeting between Almagro, OAS Adjacency Zone official Magdalena Talamas (prounounced Tala Mas), the Belizean delegation; Ambassadors Pat Andrews and Alexis Rosado; the Guatemalan delegation, and representatives of the International Group of Friendly Countries.

So, tonight, we still don't know what the investigation from the forensics experts says, but BDF Commander David Jones told us this evening, that he confident that it will vindicate his soldiers who came under fire that night in the Chiquibul. Here's what he had to say about his suspicions of where the fatal gunshot came from:

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander - BDF
"I expect the truth in regards to the findings. What we suspected was that the patrol came under fire and they reacted as expected that they would have responded in self-defense. The fact on the ground I believe should be that the patrol was fired upon. Our patrol did respond. I am not aware of what forensics would be explaining in their report, but I expect that the patrol will be exonerated that they did reacted in self-defense."

Reporter
"I am sure you are privy to the post mortem results of the young man having been shot and I know for a fact that the post mortem said that it wasn't M-16 bullets that penetrated his back. Is that correct?"

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander - BDF
"There was a second report that came out that said it wasn't high powered weapon, which means the rounds were not those from the Belize Defence Force weapons as was indicated by the President and Foreign Minister that they were shot by the actual soldiers from Belize Defence Force. I believe that fact will also be presented in the report that it wasn't members of the BDF."

Reporter
"Did other members of the patrol carried any other weapons other than M-16?"

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander - BDF
"Yes, the FCD members had .22 rifle and also a shotgun and so we suspect that the results will reveal that they were the results from those weapons and not the high powered weapons from the BDF. That's what we expect from the report."

Jules Vasquez
"How significantly will that change the overall narrative? We know the BDF has been, was vilified by the Guatemalans, by the President himself in the wake of this incident. If indeed the BDF is exculpated, will that be vindication for you?"

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander - BDF
"Well of course it will be vindication for us. Its disappointing, it was frustrating listening to all the media hype that was going around internationally against the Belize Defence Force, stating that our soldiers are very unprofessional, we are hunting their people like they are dogs and that's not what the BDF is about. We are a very professional organization. We act professionally when we are in operation and it would be vindication when these results are presented. Because we soundly believe and we are sure that based on the fact that were on the ground that was reported to us by the members of the patrol, that the person that was shot and killed was not shot and killed by one of our soldiers. But the other members that were there were a part of a patrol and even if it was firing done by our soldiers, they acted in self-defense."

The report is expected to be released by Friday of this week. The general says he hopes that after that the OAS can proceed with the investigations into the shooting of two Belizean lawmen: special constable Danny Conorquie who was killed by cross border bandits, and Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey - who was shot by the same.

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