The Belize Defense Force this morning received a donation from the U.S. State Department. Ambassador Robert Dieter handed over keys for ten Dodge pickup trucks to Brigadier General Lloyd Gillett. Dieter told us that the donation comes as part of the U.S. commitment to ensuring the countries in the region improve on their own security, and by extension the security of his country.
Robert Dieter, U.S. Ambassador
"These trucks are given to the BDF in order to increase their mobility and their capability to conduct their maneuvers within the country. The position of the United States government is to try to extend assistance to Belize in a number of different areas. Fortunately we were able this year to give an increase in the funding available to the Belize Defense Force, I think partly in recognition of its cooperation in the past with U.S. military forces that have been down here and in recognition of the importance it plays as a regional player in Central American security."
Brigadier General Lloyd Gillet, BDF Commander
"We need to continue to invest in security because security is very important. Over the last couple years we've seen the fleet continue to deteriorate and so these ten new vehicles will add to our mobility. A lot of the areas where we patrol are not paved and so vehicles do take a beating. But we've been improving the maintenance and we've improved the training of our drivers."
Robert Dieter,
"It's the intention of the United States government to increase the capability of the Belize Defense Force to secure its own borders and protect its own citizens. As noted in the opening remarks, the security of Belize is important and critical to the security of the region and the security of the region is important and critical to the security of the United States. So all of us are in this together and these are simply given in recognition of the professionalism and recognition of the job that the BDF has done and the job that we know they're going to continue to do."
The trucks are Dodge 3500's and the package comes with a price tag of US$508,000. They will be deployed to the various military formations countrywide.
