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Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington received a briefing from the BDF this afternoon, and gave 7news and the Reporter newspaper an interview immediately after. Here's what he had to say about today's patrol and the genesis of this border problem:…

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"There was in fact the usual Belize Defence Force and Guatemalan Defence Force link up in the very area, so that both militaries are behaving has happen - they are continuing to link up as they usually do."

Jules Vasquez
"I know there was some concern about what type of numbers would we return to the area with when we did return as we did today."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I didn't get the sense that it was larger than the usual. It's not the first time they have had encounter with this particular individual. In this particular case this gentleman Rigoberto Guitierriez is a man who is in fact in Belizean territory - there is no question about it - has had arms found in his premises on the Belize side and he is an irritant for the Belize Defence Force and we are doing all in our power to try to ensure that he is relocated but it is very lucrative for him to be over here because he seems to facilitate the illegal activities - they found a saw in his house and some gasoline. We know that there has been a lot of cutting of the timber and he seem to be very much involve in that kind of activity."

Jules Vasquez
"Is it that we can't eject him because of the rules of the AZ (adjacency zone)?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"Yeah only the terms of the adjacency zone as I understand it - those people who have been occupying areas prior to 2000 I think, you have got to get their concurrence to have them remove. That was the agreement to remove them - you would really have to have their concurrence."

Rowland Parks, Reporter
"Even if they are in possession what would be illegal arms and ammunition under our jurisdiction - we cannot enforce that?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"We can. We can enforce all our laws. But it seems to me that there was some agreement that in the case of those who are in occupation prior to 2000 - the mode of removing them would be with their agreement."

Jules Vasquez
"Do we make any apologies? in this particular case the civilian that got shot is a 21 year old David Garcia Pineda. Do you have to apologize to anyone for him being shot?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"It is not up to our understanding that we have to. I don't think the Guatemalan authorities are expecting us to apologize either."

Jules Vasquez
"And the reason we don't have to apologize is because he was shot in Belize."

Rowland Parks, Reporter
"And he was posing a threat with an AK-47."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"That is our position but even though it is our position we still are putting the matter to the OAS so that they can come up with a definitive position."

Jules Vasquez
"You cannot freely engage with firearms within the adjacency zone - there is the little brown book."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"They should not be doing that. People should not be using firearms."

Jules Vasquez
"So then did our military used justifiable force within the adjacency zone?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"That is going to be ascertained. That side of the adjacency zone was squarely in Belizean territory and it is my view that our authorities have the power and the responsibility to defend the territory and if they have to use force in the process to my mind that is our entitlement; that is our right."

Jules Vasquez
"Deadly force?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"That is our entitlement; that is our right. They could have been kill too."

Jules Vasquez
"Now if we are unable to eject a hostile Guatemalan civilian from our own land, is it not time to revisit the adjacency zone protocols if the OAS is incapable of mustering the funds to relocate him and we are face with someone who is provoking other Guatemalan civilians against out army in our land. Something has to be done."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"Good observation and something needs to be done and I agree with that but that something has to be done by us. You see it is our country, it is our land and I like to say to people that we now are in the driver's seat - when I say we, I mean you and me, the people of Belize, all the leaders of Belize and the Government of Belize. It is our country, we all have a collective responsibility to sit down and decide how are we going forward in relation to this problem and so we as a people have got to sit down and decide now what are our priorities? What is our resource base? can we afford to increase the amount of soldiers we have on the border? Can we afford to increase the amount of policemen we have on the border."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs put out a statement today saying that quote: "the incident…occurred…on Belizean territory, where 5 Guatemalan nationals on motorcycles armed with high caliber AK-47 weapons approached the area threatening the members of the Belize Defence Force Patrol…after repeated warnings from the BDF to stop, the Guatemalan nationals continued to advance on the BDF personnel who were forced to act in accordance to their rules of engagement."

And as a rejoinder to yesterday's mildly inflammatory release from the Guatemalan ministry of Foreign Affairs, Belize's ministry's release adds, quote:

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs…of Belize once again calls on the…Guatemalan authorities to put in place the necessary mechanisms to dissuade its nationals from entering illegally into Belizean territory and for its nationals to respect the Belizean law enforcement authorities." End quote.