CARIBBEAN/BELIZE: Belize denies allegations that the country's soldiers had entered Guatemala earlier this month

Belize denies allegations by media
 
Thursday July 24 2003
 
 

BELMOPAN, Belize, (CMC) - Belize yesterday denied allegations that the 
country's soldiers had entered Guatemala earlier this month. 

In a statement, the Government denied Guatemala newspaper reports that 
members of the Belize Defence Force had entered Guatemalan territory and 
accosted citizens there on Friday, 11 July. 

The statement said that Belize had established "a Belize Defence Force Patrol 
en route to a scheduled link up with a Guatemalan Armed Forced Patrol on the 
border near Machaquilla in Belize, and had encountered and conversed with two 
Guatemalan nationals in that location without incident." 
In a diplomatic note sent to the Government of Guatemala, Belize said it 
welcomed "the conducting of an investigation by the now operational Adjacency 
Zone Office of the Organization of American States if this is so desired by 
the Government of Guatemala." 

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also instructed Ambassador Alfredo 
Martinez in Guatemala City to assure the Government and People of Guatemala 
that the Government of Belize fully respects the sovereignty and territorial 
integrity of Guatemala and is satisfied that no violation of this has 
occurred as has been alleged in the Guatemalan Press," the statement said.

Source: Antigua Sun