David Jones
Apart from accusing the BTV of endangering the lives of his soldiers, Brigadier General Jones goes further to blame them for the aggression of Guatemalan soldiers at the Sarstoon, claiming that they are changing the status quo of military encounters. That point, De la Fuente does not accept.
Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander, Belize Defence Force [File: August 19, 2015]
“But of recent because of the traction of what is happening with the Territorial Volunteers wanting to go to the Sarstoon Island and wanting to show their patriotism in the area, they have escalated their interest in what’s happening at the Sarstoon. I must add that this can change the status quo of the relationship that we have military to military because we have been going through that river unimpeded for decades without incident. And for the first time we had the interception is after the Territorial Volunteers is showing their patriotism in the area. That’s the first time that we’ve had any interception of this sort that could have resulted in an incident.”
Giovanni de la Fuente
Giovanni de la Fuente, Head, Northern Territorial Volunteers
“As far as I know, the B.D.F. has been intercepted many times before, and so I don’t think that it’s a cause of our movement in that area that their aggression has stepped up. It seems to be that they have over many years been aggressing Belize.”
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