He said that as recently as 2024, but, yesterday, in a Zoom interview with X-TV News, Fonseca became the first senior government official - other than the commissioner of police - to comment on the hijacking. That's pretty remarkable - but what we found even more remarkable is that he basically said, "why y'all over-reacting - it only happened once!" Here are his remarks:
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I think you know the first thing for us is getting a comprehensive report on this matter. So that's what we're doing: we're putting together, a comprehensive report from all the different stakeholders, who are involved. You know, immigration was one, obviously, civil aviation, the Airports Authority, police, everybody that was involved in this effort. So we're putting together that report, we're having a meeting this afternoon of the National Security Council will be discussing it. You know, we want to make sure that we have a balanced approach, right? Obviously, you know, when you're faced with this type of incident, which is very serious, very, very dramatic, very serious incident, it's always a call to action. It says we have to review things. We have to look at what's in place. How can we make things more effective? How can we make it more efficient? How can we make it more secure? So that's what we're doing. We're taking a very comprehensive look, but at the same time, we don't want to lose, you know, what makes Belize so special. So, you know, we can't overreact to one incident as serious as that incident was, we should not overreact to that one incident. And we have to find the right balance. How can we provide adequate security? So that, you know, both our local people and tourists coming to feel secure and safe when boarding our planes or local domestic airlines or when using our you know, the marine, the boats that travel to the caves and so we want to make sure they are safe and at the same time we want to keep in place that feeling of community and you're in Belize and, you're safe but you're also relaxed and can then have a good time and enjoy yourselves. So you know we've had, you know, this is the first incident of this nature. So we shouldn't overreact to it. But, as I said, the main thing is we're getting a comprehensive report. And coming out of that report, we'll be able to to address key concerns that that people have in the, in the industry."
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced a press conference for tomorrow afternoon.
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