Guatemalans Bribing B.D.F. Soldiers with Chicken, Investigation Launched

An investigation into allegations the B.D.F. soldiers stationed at the Machakilha Conservation Post are being bribed by Guatemalans continues. The team of investigators met on Wednesday and is expected to produce its findings on October eighteenth. One of the wild allegations is that Guatemalans are bribing soldiers with chicken. Today, Prime Minister John Briceño responded to the startling allegations as the situation has sparked national debate about the challenges faced by underpaid soldiers tasked with defending Belize’s borders. Could something as simple as food sway their loyalty? Hipolito Novelo has been investigating and has the following report.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“A chicken can’t pay to protect the interests of this country .”

 

Hipolito Novelo, Reporting
Prime Minister John Briceño is speaking on allegations that Guatemalan loggers are bribing Belize Defense Force soldiers stationed at the Machakilha Conservation Post. That investigation continues, as News Five has learned that the investigating team met on Wednesday, October ninth, and is expected to submit its findings by Friday, October 18.Our own investigation has revealed allegations of Guatemalans bribing soldiers with chicken. Is that all it takes—chicken—for a BDF soldier to abandon their duties, not to mention their sense of pride and patriotism thrown out the window? But if you put yourself in the soldier’s boots, you will realize that they do work hard and get paid very little. That’s no excuse to sell out your country, but when you get food like this—expired Pan Crema, expired Tang, expired peanuts, ramen noodles, some rice, granola bars, and canned food—you might understand the dynamics at play. We asked Prime Minister John Briceño about it.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporter

“So there’s some claims that some of the BDF soldiers, due to poor payment and food rations, are even taking bribes of foods such as chickens. Have you heard of that?”

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“That will happen any place. You get 1, 000, and somebody can’t give you another 100; you’re going to take it. So I don’t think it’s a matter of that. I think it’s a matter of that our BDF have to be more disciplined in what they’re doing. And that’s one of the things that we’ve been talking to the general about: that we feel that the BDF was at the pinnacle when it comes to discipline, and it’s, I think we’re slipping. And so it’s important to hit the reset button to ensure that these people or BDF soldiers say that we have to be able to at all times look after the interests of Belize. A chicken can’t pay to protect the interests of this country.”

 

Take this as a contributing factor: an entry-level B.D.F. soldier earns about forty dollars a day, and if that same soldier remains in the force for more than five years, then that figure increases to forty-two dollars. If increments are given in a timely manner, then it should be more. Again, trekking thick forests for long hours in whatever weather condition, sometimes for more than two days, is no easy task. And as our investigation revealed, one of the Guatemalans who attempted to bribe the B.D.F. patrol commanders said that he has been bribing soldiers for more than five years.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño
“These allegations are always going to, I’m sure, always come up. We just have to be on top of it and ensure that we protect Belize at all times. And that is not for compromise. We have had these issues all along. We have to be able to put more checks and balances. One of the issues with FCD, Friends for Conservation and  Development, that they have been talking to us to say that we have to ensure that the BDF would track, walk the borders, and because there’s no way then how we can be able to track that they were saying that they were not doing the patrols the way they did. So what we’ve been doing is getting them the equipment—some trackers that would mark where they’re walking—to ensure that we do the traveling.”

 

That tracking device will assist in keeping soldiers on this side of the border because some of them are known to frequent specific establishments on the Guatemalan side. These allegations stem from a September seventh mission when soldiers detained Guatemalan loggers operating in the Columbia River Forest Reserve. The men and their chainsaw were detained. A woman and two minors were released, and later in the evening, soldiers found themselves surrounded by over ten potentially armed Guatemalans near the conservation post. Communication with Fairweather Camp was lost, gunshots were heard, and the outnumbered soldiers released the detainees to avoid violence. The mission to destroy two illegal bridges was abandoned. Communication failures involving Harris and VHF radios exacerbated the standoff, prompting questions about the need for equipment upgrades.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Well, that’s what I just said—that we have to be working at it. We have to use more technology, better technology. We’re using the tracking system so that we know where they are at all times. And where is it that they’re walking? And I think we know the issue of probably satellite radio when it is necessary. But these are all challenges that we face. So there is, you’re not in an office. So you’re going to meet the challenges at all times. And as we meet them, we need to see how best we could address it.”

 

And we’ll keep investigating. Reporting for News 5, I am Hipolito Novelo.