Fonseca Shoots Down Budna Prisoner Swap

Talk of bringing home imprisoned Belizean Joseph Budna is running into some real‑world legal and diplomatic hurdles tonight, after Prime Minister John Briceño floated the idea of a possible prisoner swap with Guatemala. According to Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca, no such agreement exists between the two countries, and for now, the government’s role remains limited to offering support through diplomatic channels whenever Budna reaches out.

 

Shane Williams

“Prime Minister mentioned a possible prisoner swapped for Budna. How would that work in terms of foreign affairs relations with Guatemala?”

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“Yeah. We have no, we do not have any prisoner exchange agreement or treaty between Belize and Guatemala. So there’s no basis for us to have a prisoner swap. But we are as like, as I’ve said repeatedly we are at the embassy in Guatemala, in contact with Mr. Budna. We are there to provide support to him in any way that we can. So if he, ask us to do anything on his behalf in terms of reaching out to the Guatemalan government or the Guatemalan administration, then we will certainly do that. No, we will certainly do that.”

 

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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