Last night we told you about 4 Mexican soldiers who were caught with
an unlicensed firearm in Belize but were sent home, without being charged and
with the added benefit of a police escort. It wasn’t a police decision;
the call was made by higher-ups at the Ministry of National Security who say
it was done in accord with the Geneva Convention. It’s excited a good
deal of public outrage which was ventilated on the morning talk shows. So what
does the Prime Minister have to say? Well, today at his quarterly press conference,
he defended the Ministry’s decision and took it a step further: he said
they didn’t even have to look to the Geneva Convention.
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“The Ministry of National Security states the position that there
are certain provisions of one of the Vienna Conventions that in fact allow and
in perhaps encourages a handing over, a repatriation in these circumstances.
I am further told that some thing similar happened in 1999, except the shoe
was on the other foot where members of the BDF in the area of Aguas Turbias
entered Mexican territory in the possession of their weapons and that it was
these same provisions of the Vienna Conventions that were used by the Belize
government in order to get the Mexicans to repatriate the Belizeans.
Treaty provisions apart, government in the exercise of its sovereignty
is able to use its discretion and in circumstances where even technically an
offense is committed, we are talking about the soldiers of a neighboring country
that is extremely friendly to us, that cooperates with us in the area of security.
I honestly don’t see that the Ministry can be faulted for handing back
the soldiers in the particular circumstance.
In the question of the interplay between states, when you are neighbors
and when you are friends, in the larger of scheme of things that’s not
in my view anything that ought to attract any censure. I sincerely believe that.
If the majority of people in this country disagree with that, well that’s
part of our democracy.”
For clarity, the BDF incident in 1999 involved soldiers who were on
patrol and had mis-stepped into Mexican territory. The soldiers we told you
about yesterday were on vacation.
The Ministry of National Security sent out a press release today outlining
its position in some depth. It says that the Geneva Convention which Belize
ratified in 1984 is applicable in this case because it states that quote, "except
in particular cases....soldiers shall not be interned in penitentiaries."
The Ministry’s release further quotes the treaty as saying, "Prisoners
of War shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of
hostilities." The release concludes that, quote, “since
no state of hostilities exist between Belize and Mexico the decision was taken
to release the Mexican soldiers immediately. “
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