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The OAS today formally announced that it will launch an investigation into the fatal shooting of 13 year old Guatemalan Julio Alvarado. It happened 7 days ago about half a kilometre into Belize, and both Guatemala and Belize have asked the OAs to investigate. Â 

OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, announced in a press release today that that, quote “he will proceed immediately with the identification and deployment of the appropriate experts to carry out the investigation as soon as possible.â€￾  The release says that the investigation will independent of the verification which is currently taking place.

Today, the Commander of the BDF told the press that he is confident that the location, and the circumstances of the shooting will vindicate his soldiers:..

Jules Vasquez
"How sound are we on certifying that location and that it happened after nightfall?"

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander - BDF
"Well we're pretty sure because our soldiers were out there. They've operated in that area for years and a previous incident just occurred there where we had two Guatemalans that were aggressive towards our patrol where we fired back, one of them were injured in the leg. It’s about the same area, exactly the same area that this incident occurred and our soldiers took GPS readings of the area and it has been confirmed that the area is at least 580 metres inside Belizean soil and when they went back out on the ground it was ascertained yes by our soldiers who are there on the ground it is in Belizean soil."

At the time of the shooting, the BDF Patrol was accompanied by 7 rangers from the Friends For Conservation and Development.

Now today’s OAS release spoke about, quote, “the commitment of both countries to clarify the events rapidly.â€￾  But where’s the urgency in dealing with that other shooting? – the one of Staff Sergeant Richard Lambey which on Month ago on March 26rth,  That’s still not done – but General Jones says that so far it shows that the Bandits who ambushed him wanted him dead:

Brig. Gen. David Jones, Commander - BDF
"We have not gotten an official report from the OAS in regards to Mr. Lambey's shooting incident yet. What they have confirmed preliminary and what we've heard preliminary is not official; that it was a deliberate ambush, they intended to kill him, they wanted to kill one of the members of our patrol. The detailed report has not been forth coming yet and we're still waiting for that."