This morning, reports went out that there had been a scar encounter in Belizean water: A Guatemalan Navy vessel run aground on the reef, and that its soldiers brandished weapons when the Belize Coast Guard appeared.
Well, tonight, the Coast Guard commander says that's not true - but there was a large Guatemalan Navy vessel discovered in Belizean waters.
This afternoon, the Coast Guard Commander told us more:
Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant at Belize Coast Guard
"So sometime this morning around 8:30 A patrol out at the forward operating base at hunting Caye reported a sighting of a Guatemalan naval vessel that appeared to be inside Belizean waters. The patrol then deployed out and just about 3 miles south of hunting caye in the area of rugged Caye where they encountered a Guatemalan Vessel. There was a vessel that appeared to be a hydrography vessel that belonged to the Guatemalan navy, 65 feet in length and our patrol then informed them that they were inside Belizean Waters. There was an exchange of words at that location and eventually the Guatemalan patrol vessel departed and we escorted that vessel outside of Belizean waters and from here the ministry of defense informed the ministry of foreign affairs who would then take lead in following up with a protest note we believe that the diplomatic channels would now kick in and that's the route we will rely on to confirm what exactly occurred."
"Just to clarify there was no grounding at that location there were no weapons drawn and when we arrived at that location we immediately and verbally engaged with the Guatemalan navy and had a back and forth and we confirmed this was Belizean waters so it wasn't an aggressive encounter despite that they were inside Belizean waters there was no weapons drawn and it was not a grounding."
And that as followed up by a release this evening from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which confirms Bennett's statement but adds, quote, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade will strongly protest the illegal incursion by the Guatemalan patrol boat into Belizean waters and will call on the Guatemalan authorities to dissuade their armed forces from continuing to traverse into Belizean waters without authorization from Belizean authorities. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade will continue to engage with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala to insist that its Armed Forces respect the maritime and territorial integrity of Belize and its internationally recognized borders." End quote.
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