Guatemala’s president says the military plane was never there, but Belize’s Foreign Affairs Ministry insists the evidence tells a different story. Chief Executive Officer Oscar Arnold is strongly rejecting President Bernardo Arévalo’s claim that the reported airspace violation came from a teenager using an amateur tracking application. Arnold says Belize did not build its case on guesswork or unverified information. According to him, the country’s official radar detected the Guatemalan military aircraft, and independent sources later confirmed Belize’s account. Put simply, Arnold says he is not in the business of making things up, and Belize has the evidence to support its protest.
Oscar Arnold
Oscar Arnold, CEO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“I don’t know the audience to who he was speaking to. Many times the message is packaged in a way depending on the audience you are speaking to. We know on our end, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense took some hit on the media for waiting to put out an official release. We understood from the onset that just relying on an app or on information that was already in the public sphere, that we could not be irresponsible, that we had to await an official report from our agencies, people who use our primary and secondary radars, to confirm that there was an aircraft that entered into our airspace without authorization. So, we have that information. The Friday, when we provided the protest note to the Guatemalans, we wrote as well to the OAS and I think that prompted a response from them, saying that they would welcome an OAS investigation. And that is the route we are looking at right now. We also have independent verification from other sources, other credible sources that this flight did take place. Not only the flight, but the incursion as well. It is a national security issue. both myself and the CEO of the National Defense and Border Security made ourselves available. We are not in the business of making these things up.”
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