Tensions between Guatemala and Belize over a disputed border area rose sharply on Thursday when Guatemala’s government accused Belize soldiers of killing a teenage boy on its territory.
Belize rejected Guatemala’s “inflammatory” version of events and said its patrol had fired back in self-defense after coming under attack on its side of the border.
The incident, which occurred late on Wednesday near the Sarstoon River that forms Belize’s southern border with Guatemala, risks militarizing a dispute that has been simmering for decades.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales accused Belize of “cowardice” over the killing.
In a recorded address to the nation, he said that, as of Thursday, Guatemalan forces would assert “strict protection for the sovereignty” of the border river.
His defense minister, William Mansilla, told reporters that 30 Guatemalan security personnel, including soldiers, have already been deployed to the area.
According to Mansilla, the 13-year-old Guatemalan boy had been walking back to his home after field labor near the northwestern village of San Jose Las Flores when he was shot dead in an unprovoked attack. His father and younger brother were wounded and hospitalized.
Belize’s government responded with a statement rejecting Guatemala’s account and calling Morales’ comments “inflammatory.”
“Our patrol in Belizean national territory came under attack to which they responded in justifiable self-defense,” it said.
The shooting, it said, “is part of a continued pattern of aggression by Guatemalan civilians engaged in illegal activities on Belize’s side of the Adjacency Zone.”
It said the “amassing of Guatemalan troops in the border areas, including the Sarstoon River, only adds volatility to the tensions already created by illicit activities in these areas.”
Guatemala has disputed territorial claims over its small neighbor dating back to when Belize was a British colony known as British Honduras. Although Belize became independent in 1981, Guatemala did not recognize it for another decade because of its claims, prompting Britain to keep a small military presence there as a deterrent until five years ago.
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.
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