P.u.p. Leader Condemns G.o.b. For Ignoring Caracol Memo

The question of the adequacy of the government response to threat is a pertinent and valid one. After all, Danny Conorquie was murdered fully eight months after the head of the Tourism Police Unit, Diana Hall, issued a dire warning to her superiors via memo, and begged for assistance. Her requests for additional training, manpower and equipment, as well as proper security protocols at Caracol, were completely ignored by the Ministry of National Security and by the Belize Tourism Board. Danny Conorquie became a victim of the neglect. The matter of that memo was aired in the House on Thursday. The Prime Minister says he knew nothing about it, and the Minister of National Security had nothing to say. But the P.U.P. leader addressed the issue.

Francis Fonseca, P.U.P. Leader

Francis Fonseca

“That letter is very damning, because it foretells what has actually taken place, and it makes clear that within the ranks of the Police Department, within the ranks of the Tourism Police Unit, at the highest levels, there were very serious concerns about that very site. This letter was specifically about Caracol, the archaeological site Caracol. That letter was copied to the then head of the B.T.B., director Laura Esquivel-Frampton, as well as to the head of Destination Planning, Mr. Kevin Gonzalez and also to the administrator of NICH, one Mr. Williams. That letter was in fact saying that we are asking for trouble…there is a disaster pending at Caracol, and it pointed out that we are placing our security officers, these Special Constables, at risk…and cried out for help, cried out for answers. I don’t know where that letter went…who if any at all there was any response to it, but we certainly need to find out, and we need to hear from the Minister of National Security who by the way has been very, very silent. He has been absent on this issue. They’ve shot down a Special Constable in cold blood at Caracol, a member of his family team so to speak, and nothing from the Minister of National Security on this matter.”

The memo, dated January twenty-fourth, is addressed to the Commissioner of Police and is signed by Assistant Superintendent of Police Diana Hall, Commander of the Tourism Police Unit.