Belize Says Guatemala Amassing Troops on Border, Tensions Rise

The tiny Central American country of Belize accused neighboring Guatemala of "amassing" troops along the two countries’ border on Thursday evening after a 13-year-old Guatemalan boy was allegedly shot dead by Belizean soldiers.

RELATED: 
Guatemalan Indigenous Peoples Close 11-Day March For Water

Guatemalan government officials said the teenager, Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano, his father and his 11-year-old brother were set upon by soldiers Wednesday as they planted crops in the border community of San Jose Las Flores near Melchor de Mencos, which is on the border between Guatemala's department of Peten and Belize.

Guatemala's Defence Minister William Mansilla told reporters that 30 security personnel, including soldiers, had been deployed to the area where the teenager boy was shot dead, and his brother and father wounded by bullets.

Newly sworn in President, Jimmy Morales, labelled the shooting as a "cowardly and excessive attack" that merits the "total condemnation of the Guatemalan state."

He said he had summoned his ambassador to Belize for consultations and urged Belize to investigate and bring those responsible to justice.

Belize have denied any wrongdoing in the killing in a statement saying its security forces were investigating illegal land clearing in the Cebada area of the Chiquibul National Park in western Belize when they detained a Guatemalan man suspected of illicit activities.

The statement said that the patrol came under fire around nightfall and shot back in self-defense.

Belizean soldiers found the boy's body, which was taken to Belize City for an autopsy, before the leaving the area, the statement continued.

"(Belize) has a long history and tradition as a peace-loving country, respectful of international law (and) human rights," said Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow after the child’s death.

The shooting marks a new flashpoint in the long standing dispute between the two nations which dates back more than 150 years. Guatemala claims parts of territory governed by Belize, a former British colony, as its own.

Both nations have agreed to take the territorial dispute to the International Court of Justice – but only after each has held a referendum, the dates of which have not been set.