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That unit comes under the BDF Airwing, and the Commanders, Major Jermaine Burns, and Captain Jasmin Elliott, discussed their activities of trying to keep the marine and river borders secured. Here's what they told us:

Major Jermaine Burns, Commanding Officer - BDF Airwing
"The special boat unit is commanded by Captain J. Elliot. She falls under my command and she's in charge of the riverine boats. We are mandated with patrolling the river borders, all the rivers of Belize and also the coast and play a supporting role to the coast guard from time to time. We have approximately 12 boats under the command of the unit and most recently, we were tasked with the patrolling of the Sarstoon River and it's the transport of troops up to Cadenas and also at the mouth of the Sarstoon. It is a unit that it growing, fairly new, but it took off with some of the guys that stayed back from going over to the coast guard. the unit has come a long was where we're transitioning to riverine jet drive boats and these boats are ideal for the unit as they have a very low draft and are able to sustain operability in the very low waters. We transport troops from time to time almost on a bi-weekly basis to the different observation posts that are accessible only by water. We also support operations with the Mexicans in the northern river border."

Captain Jasmine Elliott, Commander - BDF Special Boat Unit
"The special boat unit is the Belize Defense Force maritime component that falls under the airwing. Our mandates includes mainly the entire country of Belize, all the rivers, and the coast lines. The people here at the special boat unit are in charge of making sure that no illegal activities happen, occur within the country of Belize in the rivers and the coastline. we have a variety of boats which includes outboards and jet drive, however we are moving more into the riverine capabilities because our mandate includes mostly rivers, so you'll see a bunch of green boats along the rivers, those are us. To distinguish us from the coast guard, because our uniform is very similar, is that people from the special boat unit, we wear blue digitals whereas the coast guard use full blue. The coast guard are mainly found along the seas whereas we restrict our presence to mainly the riverine areas."

For months now, the Sarstoon River hasn't been in the news because things have basically gone back to normal. The Belizean civilians and the military personnel have been using the river unhindered. The Commander confirmed as much the last time we spoke to him. Here's what he had to say 10 days ago:

Brig. Gen David Jones - Commander - BDF
"We continue to have unhindered access in the area, the Guatemalans have not been interfering with the BDF and they have not been interfering with any of our civilians which is good. We'd like to see that continue, just that at the end state we'd like to have something in writing, something in black and white stating what the protocol is. As has been expressed by our foreign affairs that we are hoping that happens by December. Hopefully there are meetings prior to that that we have something concrete that we have signed unto which both Belizeans and Guatemalans have a clear understanding of what if expected in the area of the Sarstoon."

We'll tell you if Maheia's Sarstoon Eco Challenge affects the riverine border relationship.