If the Plane Wasn’t There, Why Was Its Transponder Off?

The disputed flight is now in the hands of the Organization of American States, but Belize says it is ready to prove its case. Both Belize and Guatemala have asked the OAS to investigate what happened on September twenty-fourth, when Belize says a Guatemalan military aircraft entered its airspace without authorization. CEO Oscar Arnold says Belize is confident in the radar evidence it will provide. His question is simple: if the aircraft’s transponder was turned off that night, what evidence will Guatemala bring to challenge Belize’s account?

 

Oscar Arnold, CEO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“Remember we have the OAS ensuring that there are ongoing confidence building measures. The OAS in the adjacency zone has a certain mandate. So, in some respects this is outside of the mandate they would have. However, if both countries make a request to the general secretary of the OAS they would then look into it as an impartial observer of sorts. We have no issues there. What will be made available to them is anybody’s guess. We know the transponder was taking off intentionally and that will affect how the records or whatever logs and that sort of things. I will have to leave that to the technical people. Where the government is concerned, there was an issue, an unauthorized aircraft entered our airspace.”

 

Both countries will now rely on the OAS to formulate a position on the matter, based on an in-depth investigation.

 

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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