“This Flight Never Happened”: Guatemala Denies Military Aircraft Entered Belize’s Airspace 

Guatemala accused Belize of spreading misinformation at the 81st United Nations General Assembly. The Guatemalan delegation responded to Prime Minister John Briceño’s address, where the PM raised the incident during his address before the UN on Saturday. 

Belize’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that a Guatemalan military aircraft entered Belize’s airspace on Thursday and disabled its transponder. It maintains that the flight violated Belizean airspace and had no authorisation to be there. 

Guatemala rejected the accusation shortly after Briceño’s address, stating, “Guatemala categorically rejects the serious accusation that a plane of the Guatemalan Air Force overflew the territory of Belize.” 

It added, “This flight never happened at all times.” 

Guatemala said it will ask the Organisation of American States office that monitors the area to investigate. It also promised that Guatemala “will submit all relevant reports and even the plane in question.” 

The delegation then turned on Belize, saying that, “Guatemala deeply regrets that Belize uses this forum to spread misinformation using this territorial dispute with Guatemala as an instrument for domestic policy.” 

It called it a “ flagrant violation of the 2005 agreement and undermines the confidence building measures.” 

Guatemala argued that the UNGA was the wrong forum to raise such concerns, since the territorial case is before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“As we have pointed out on several occasions, we will comply with the court’s decision, in good faith,” the delegation added. 

The ICJ hearings on the territorial, insular, and maritime case begin in February 2027.