UN General Assembly
2016

Tragically, and much to Belize’s regret, on 20 April 2016 a Guatemalan minor was fatally shot and his father and brother injured when they came in contact with a Belizean patrol in one of our protected national parks in the dead of night. The Belize Police forthwith began an investigation. Moreover, officials of the Organization of American States (OAS), stationed in the Adjacency Zone between Belize and Guatemala, immediately commenced their own investigation. And, at the specific behest of Guatemala, Belize requested the Secretary General of the Organization of American States to launch an official special independent investigation into the incident. The Organization of American States commissioned two senior eminently qualified specialists to undertake that special investigation, with the full knowledge and approval of the Guatemalan Government. At the time of their appointment, Guatemala expressed no reservations as to their competence, suitability or otherwise, to undertake that investigation. Last August, the Special Commission delivered its findings to the Secretary General of the Organization of American States.