7News has confirmed with multiple sources that a Guatemalan national was caught inside the Chiquibul National Park last night by a joint law enforcement patrol. Persistent reports are that at one of the lawmen had to shoot the Guatemalan to detain him, and tonight, he's receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Cayo.
The Ministry of National Security says it is a preparing a release which we have not seen, but we understand the incident occurred near the Valentin Camp - and there may have been an exchange of fire. Historically, we know that there are many Guatemalans plying illegal trades in the Chiquibul - and they are often armed and not afraid to fire.
This morning, the Commissioner of Police would only discuss the very cursory details:
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"I'm not going to say much about it. The matter is still in its infancy stage. The person who was shot - yes, I can confirm [that] one person was shot, and that person had been extracted out of the Chiquibul Forest Reserve and is now at the Western Regional or San Ignacio Polyclinic. Considering the fact that it is a matter at the border area, and involves nationals from Guatemala, I'm going to yield to the response coming from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So, there is not much that we will say, but I want this though. I noticed that last night, just after the incident occurred, Channel 5 posted something on social media to the effect. May I say that when you do things like that, you put our security forces at risk, because you then inform the enemies that the security forces are in the area. Someone of their nationals has been shot, and that could have caused more persons to come over to the Belizean side and have a stand-off with our security forces. So, I would ask that in the future when you get these things, if you [can] hold back on it a bit, to give the security forces enough time to get out the area before you put something to go publicly."
A release we got two minutes ago says, quote,
"On Sunday, 7 June 2020, at about 6:00 p.m., Friends for Conservation and Development (FCD) Forest Rangers were conducting a routine exercise mounting cameras to monitor the poaching of endangered scarlet macaws 1.2 km east of the border, in area of Caracol, in the Chiquibul National Park. During this exercise they had an encounter with two poachers which resulted in an FCD Ranger firing his weapon in self-defense, causing a non-lethal injury to one individual who was captured and detained for illegal entry and poaching of protected wildlife. The other person who was his companion fled.
First aid was immediately rendered to the individual and he was carried several hours out of the forest and transferred to San Ignacio Hospital for initial treatment, and then to Karl Huesner Memorial Hospital in a stable condition.
The person detained has been identified as Mr. Porfilio Ramirez Tirgeros, a 36 year old Guatemalan national from La Rejoya.
Mr. Ramirez Tirgeros had in his possession seven scarlet macaws.
The matter is under investigation and it will proceed in keeping with Belizean Law, and the spirit of the Confidence Building Measures of 2005 which inform Belize's relations with Guatemala." End quote.
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