Budna Case Before DPP; It Exposes Gaps in Law Enforcement

Tonight, we dive deeper into the Joseph Budna abduction case, a story that started with Facebook Live and spiraled into an international scandal, shaking the very top of law enforcement. It all began on August twenty-second, when Budna, well-known for his outspoken social media presence, went live from Orange Walk Town, right in front of the police station. Minutes after signing off, he vanished. Witnesses say three men snatched him and shoved him into a sky-blue SUV. The shocking part is that it happened just steps away from the station. By the next day, photos surfaced from Guatemala showing Budna in custody there. How did he cross the border so quickly? That’s the million-dollar question. Budna himself, in a leaked audio clip, claimed masked men, allegedly police, hit him, taped his mouth, and hauled him across to Arenal Village. Fast forward three weeks: no suspects, no arrests, no charges. The investigation has been riddled with gaps, missing surveillance footage, incomplete reports, and growing public outrage. Even Prime Minister Briceño called the initial police report “unsatisfactory,” sending Commissioner Rosado on leave amid suspicions of police involvement. And now, for the most recent development, the case file has landed on the desk of Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl-Lynn Vidal. But Vidal says the file is far from convincing.

 

Reporter

“We have heard reports that you are now in possession of the investigative file into the Budna abduction. Are you in such possession and is it before you right now?”

 

Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, Director of Public Prosecutions

“Yes, the file was delivered to my office last Wednesday.”

 

Reporter

“I have heard speculation by people like myself on TV…”

 

Cheryl-Lynn Vidal

“So you have been speculating, you mean to say. Yes, go ahead…”

Reporter

“That it will be a thin file, that it will not be anything that warrants immediate action or will there be an arrest next week. Are you able to make any characterization of the file that’s before you?”

 

Cheryl-Lynn Vidal

“It is not a thin file. I, too, was expecting a thin file, but it is not a thin file. I was also expecting, and I apologize, as director, for saying this, but I was also expecting that there would have been nothing in the file. What I was not expecting was that there would be less than nothing in the file which is really my characterization of what has been put before me. But we are looking at the file as a team and we are deciding where we’re going to go from here.”

 

Reporter

“I know you can’t speak prematurely, but will there be arrests?”

 

Cheryl-Lynn Vidal

“Based on what was sent to me, at this very moment there cannot possibly be an arrest of anyone because very few people saw anything and what they saw, they’re not too sure about what they saw. So at the moment, no. There definitely cannot be an arrest of anyone at all.”

 

So where does that leave us? With more questions than answers. Was this a rogue operation? A state-sanctioned handover? Or something else entirely? For now, the DPP’s office is reviewing the file, but until then, the Budna saga remains one of Belize’s most baffling cases.