B.D.F. Commander Addresses Guatemalan Incursion in Colombia Forest  Reserve

On Tuesday night, we told you that members of the Belize Territorial Volunteers came across an illegal logging site within the Columbia Forest Reserve. They reportedly came across a road that leads into the reserve from Guatemala. They also came across hundreds of logwoods along that roadway. BTV called on the Belize Defense Force and the Belize Forestry Department to act swiftly and arrest the situation. We asked Brigadier General Azariel Loria, Commander of the Belize Defense Force about it when we caught up with him today.

 

Brigadier General Azariel Loria, Commander,  Belize Defense Force

“The Belize Defense Force as the minister mentioned some time ago during an interview, the BDF is operating in Machil Ha to maintain the territorial integrity the sovereignty of Belize, because of that and the confidence building measures the countries enter, we have the primary responsibility to patrol and ensure we are abiding by the set of regulations. The Colombia Forest Reserve is not like the Chiquibul where there is a group of environmentalist that looks after the forest. In the Colombia Forest there is none. We were trying to encourage others to try to link up to coordinate with eh Forest Department so they could comanage and we could assess. We believe that is the primary responsibility of the forest department. The Colombia Forest Reserve is vast, acres, a lot of jungle, and we have two observation post, the Santa Rosa Observation Post and Machakil Ha. We acknowledge there is a lot of illegal logging going on and that is not for this year. All the years it is the sawm thing during the dry season, that is when the villagers from across because they have villages strategically set up along the  border.”