But Belizeans go over to Guatemala to commit crimes as well. 7NEWS _has confirmed through the Cayo Star that a Belizean resident of San Jose Succotz was beaten to death in Melchor on the night of Saturday October 23rd and the man believed to have inflicted the injury is a fellow Succotz resident.
22-year-old Jorge Alberto Vidal went to Melchor on Saturday October 23rd to buy a pair of work boots. But shopping soon turned into bar hopping, and he and his friends ended up at Club Deportiva. Shortly after, another set of young men, also from Succotz, visited the bar after playing a football match in Melchor. It turns out the two groups had a standing dispute over a football game which had been played in Succotz a few weeks earlier. A fight soon broke out and Vidal was badly beaten with massive injuries to his face and chest. The rival group left the bar and hightailed it back into Belize which Vidal's friends took him to the Melchor hospital where he died an hour later.
A report was made to Benque Viejo police who picked up all nine men from both sets and took statements. After that, the man fingered as the aggressor 18 year old Michael Itza was detained for two days. But, he had to be released because, as the police explained to Vidal's family, the crime did not occur in Belize. Moreover, the Guatemalans have no extradition treaty with Belize and they have made no request to question him. With that, Itza remains a free man. A post mortem conducts in
Guatemala shows that Vidal died from chest trauma; he had multiple broken ribs and a punctured lung.