In last night's news, we only had a short briefing from the Government on the latest shooting in the Chiquibul.
We've since learned that it happened on Wednesday morning in the El Retiro area, which is about an hour and a half walk south from the Valentin Conservation Post.
That's where the BDF were going to enforce an Order to Leave on some 15 Guatemalan campesinos who were found in July illegally occupying Belizean territory. They had built this small settlement of 5 houses, right near the border on Belize's side.
The settlement was tucked on the western side of a hill, which is hidden from view. Because it is concealed in the lay of the land, the BDF almost missed it the first time. It was only due to a vigilant soldier who climbed the hill just to be thorough. He spotted the houses, and alerted his superiors. They checked, and confirmed that by GPS coordinates, these people were within Belizean Territory.
The area has a pond with fresh water for drinking, and crop irrigation, and it was already cleared. So, it was perfect for an illegal settlement to take root, and become problematic in the longer term. That's why the BDF acted swiftly to give them an OTL, or an order to leave.
The soldiers went back a few weeks later on Wednesday, to ensure that the Guatemalan campesinos had complied, and that is when they came under fire. The BDF Commander explained what happened next:
Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander - BDF
"Wednesday morning we sent in a reconnaissance patrol to verify the 6 families which we have found on the first of June. We're still at the year because we went in there on the 22nd after we subsequently got the verification from the OAS that the families that were living there were actually in Belizean territory. so from a distance of about 50 meters to about a little over 120 meters, we had 5 houses were 6 families were living in. they were found on a operation prelaunch in June. So we sent in a patrol on the 22nd again to give them the OTL after we verified that they are living in Belize. When we got in there on the 22nd, we found 11 adults and 4 children so there were only 15 people there at the time. They were given the OTL jointly with the BDF, police and immigration who was there. The OTL only gave those 7 days to leave so by the 29th they were supposed to be out of there. So when the patrol went in there on Wednesday, about 200 meters or so before arriving they came under gun fire. The patrols didn't see who they were but they returned fire in self-defense and they waited in the area a while afterwards just to ensure that no one was injured first of all from our soldiers, there was no one injured and they went into the area to verify that they had not injured anyone. So just in case they had shot anyone, they wanted to verify, after that the patrol retreated and gave us the informant on that they came under fire. So subsequently we sent back in a patrol and they came back out this morning, they're actually still out there but they verified that the people are all gone. They've dismantled the houses and the structures have all been removed as well as the crops for the most part have been harvested. I wouldn't be sure that it was definitely those people because what we've gathered is that the people that have left that area are no longer living there, they are actually living in La Rejoya which is opposite where Valentin is. So it is quite necessary that people that fired on the patrol were not from there, we cannot be certain."
The BDF have since learnt that the Guatemalan families have moved to the Guatemalan village of La Rejoya, which is right across the border from the Valentin Conservation Post.
The BDF was in the process of engaging the OAS to and the Guatemalan army to seek their assistance to execute the order to leave, but since the 15 Guatemalan civilians have vacated, there is no longer any need for that. It is not known at this time if Belize will request that the OAS investigate this latest shooting incident, since no one was injured.
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