There's some diplomatic friction between Belize and Guatemala tonight, and a high ranking BDF Soldier is in the middle of it. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that Belize's Military Attache to Guatemala, Lieutenant Colonel Ricardo Leal was detained at a military checkpoint in Peten last week. The Guatemalan soldiers accused him of being intoxicated and took his Toyota RAV4 to their Ministry of Defence compound where it was impounded. We are told Leal may have also had to surrender his 9 millimeter pistol to the Guatemalans. Leal returned to Belize for a debriefing and the ministry has confirmed that he is now back at the Belize embassy in Guatemala City as of Monday.
They stress that there are no pending charges on Lt Col Leal and there is no evidence that he was intoxicated.
And this is where it gets tricky. Belize's Ministry and Embassy officials are upset that Lt. Colonel's Leal's diplomatic immunity was ignored by the Guatemalans. They say he should not have been removed from his vehicle without first making contact with his Embassy, and the vehicle should not have been impounded.
From our experience it is not a minor diplomatic incident, but Belize's Ministry is downplaying it. A spokesperson told us, quote, "We're working with Guatemalans to determine what happened, to find out what happened with that stop." End quote.
We'll keep following the story.
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