And in other news, we've been following the story of 23-year-old Micha Miguel, a BDF private who took her own life back in July. So far, we've heard that the police are investigating her death - not the events that led up to it, as the family had originally thought. They believe that Miguel was assaulted on camp - more than once - and that led to her committing suicide.
Well, today we spoke to the BDF commander, who told us that she had attempted to take her life once before. He also explained that the BDF is collaborating with the Women's Commission in a full on investigation into the claims made by Miguel's family.
Brigadier General Azariel Loria, Commander, BDF
"We knew that private Micha Miguel was having mental problems and she was getting treatment from our mental facility, our counselling session, she attempted to take her life, I think last year, and she was being given further counselling by our psychologist. When I was told that she committed suicide, and I believe this has never been done before, I ordered an investigation. In my mind, the investigation was a court of inquiry to what led to her doing that unfortunate step that ended her life and later on, more allegations came out so the Women's Commission decided to take part in the investigation, which we readily accepted, it's a joint investigation that we are doing presently. Our investigation is ongoing. So I stepped up the investigation from being a court of inquiry to a full investigation, it's an internal investigation that we are doing jointly, they have had a meeting with the acting chief of staff and I believe the next step is to have that investigation going."
But Miguel isn't the first soldier who has accused another soldier of assaulting her. Back in 2020, there were a number of reports - and these are only the ones that were made public. So we asked the brigadier general if he's concerned that his own soldiers aren't safe on camp.
Reporter
"Does it concern you that your female soldiers aren't safe and are you doing anything to ensure that this does not happen again?"
Brigadier General Azariel Loria, Commander, BDF
"We have been getting reports of sexual allegations. The investigation for this particular one is ongoing. If there are indeed reports of sexual assaults happening, we will get to know because we have the women's commission onboard and we will do something about it. I am concerned yes; I think two years ago we had allegations of rape. I think 1 or 2 cases are still with the police, the police are investigating it and still they have not managed to reach a conclusion into that, we are still awaiting. We devised our protocols, our standing operational procedures on how we are going to address it but the BDF stance is at 0 tolerance when it comes to it and it is on the individual if he or she wants to get assistance internally or externally. We are open to anything that the victim may want to or choose to do."
Reporter
"If any person within the BDF is found guilty of having perpetrated any kind of assault against any member of the BDF, is that person going to be taken out of the force?"
Brigadier General Azariel Loria, Commander, BDF
"If anybody is culpable during or at the conclusion of the investigation, a police matter, if they investigate it externally, the police will definitely take it to the courts and the judges will decide on the fate of the individual. In the Belize Defense Force, depending on the case, if the soldier is found guilty, we have various sources of punishments. It can lead to from summary disposals, summary trials to court martials and again if a court martial if formed up, then the judge will decide what the conviction or punishment will be."
