‘We Are Not Making This Up’: Belize Defends Evidence of Guatemala’s Incursion
Belize maintains that a Guatemalan aircraft entered its airspace without authorisation, despite Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo’s denial that the flight took place.
Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oscar Arnold said Belize did not rely solely on publicly available flight-tracking information before raising the matter with Guatemala.
“We had to await an official report from our agencies, people who use our primary and secondary radars to confirm that there was a flight, there was an aircraft that entered into our airspace without authorization,” Arnold said.
Arnold said Belize has also received independent verification from other credible sources that the flight and the incursion took place. “We also have independent verification from other sources, other credible sources that this flight did take place. Not only the flight but the incursion as well,” he said. “We are not individuals who are in the business of making this information up.”
Belize subsequently sent a protest note to Guatemala and also wrote to the Organisation of American States (OAS). “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,” Arnold said.
He said Belize is considering OAS involvement after Guatemala indicated it would welcome an OAS investigation. Arnold also said the aircraft’s transponder was intentionally switched off, although he declined to comment on the technical implications of that for flight records and other logs.
He said the central issue remains that an unauthorised aircraft entered Belizean airspace. “Where we are concerned and where the government of Belize is concerned is that there was an issue and an unauthorized aircraft entered our airspace,” Arnold said.