PM Briceño Challenges President Arévalo’s Aircraft Denial

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo is standing by his claim that no Guatemalan military aircraft entered Belizean airspace. Prime Minister John Briceño, however, says Belize has the tracking data to prove otherwise and is preparing to present that evidence to the OAS. Arévalo has sought to downplay the report by focusing on the teenager who first sounded the alarm. But Briceño says Belize’s own tracking systems also detected the aircraft, and regional partners are already aware of what happened.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“What do you expect him to say? Obviously, he was caught. We have the information and we’re able to move on that. We’re still looking forward to be able to the meeting at the OAS where we are going to present all the information. So remember he said it was an amateur, somebody that’s a amateur following this log flight. We don’t. We have all of the information to complete, track and everything. So we’re sticking to our point.”

 

Reporter

“Have you been in contact with him since?”

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

No, no, not yet. Not yet.”

 

Reporter

“Did he really tell Miss Rosanna that he apologized?  Did he really apologize to your wife?”

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Actually what he did, he did express concerns and to ensure that he want us to keep a strong relationship between both countries, which we do. We’ve always had a good relationship. We all understand that from time to time it’s the military that creates some of these problems.”

 

Reporter

“What happened with the date? You said the September twenty-three, and the thing happened twenty-fourth.”

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“I think there was just some mix-up.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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