Last year the Belize Defense Force and their Guatemalan counterparts conducted about 100 joint patrols along the Belize/Guatemala border. They are called synchronized patrols but the problem is there was no symmetry because the armies were operating on different wavelengths, literally. The armies had different radios and different frequencies. But all that should change now with a donation this morning from the OAS Secretariat. This morning the Belize Defense Force and the Guatemalan Army received equipment from the OAS which will help them stay in touch anytime and anywhere along the border. 7NEWS was there.
Keith Swift Reporting, [keithkswift@gmail.com]
The equipment consists of four global positioning systems (GPS)for the Belize Defense Force and the other two for the Guatemalan Army. There is also two pairs of these two-way radios. Director of the OAS Secretariat at the adjacency zone, Miguel Angel Trinidad, says these aren'
t accessories, these radios and GPS are a necessity as mandated by the confidence building measures signed in September of 2005.
Miguel Angel Trinidad, Director - OAS Secretariat
"Under the confidence building measures that were signed on September 7th, 2005 between Belize and Guatemala, there are several duties and so we give the BDF and Guatemalan Army the GPS and radio communication equipment to do the synchronized and coordinated patrols between Belize and Guatemala along the border."
The total cost of the donation is $5,000. It doesn't sound like much but the BDF's Commander Lloyd Gillett says these two-way radios and GPS will be invaluable to his soldiers in the field.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett, BDF Commander
"These GPS and radios will help us to increase the success rates. Over the periods that we've been doing these patrols, we've had a fifty percent success rate. Generally we are in the area but because of the jungle we're unable to see each other, we're unable to communicate because they have a different type of radio system."
That according to General Gillett is where these two-way radios and GPS will come in.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett,
"Now we have the same GPS, we have the same radios, I think it will help us achieve a higher success rate. We hope that once we plan the patrol, we have a time frame that we should be in the area and if we are nearby we can get on the radio, all them, and we'll be able to guide each other to where the other is. Now this coordinated or synchronized patrol has helped reduce the level of violence in the adjacency zone and given the negotiators the breathing space to deal with the territorial differendum."
Trinidad and General Gillett agree that today's donation goes beyond just border patrols.
Miguel Angel Trinidad,
"The peace process is not only the result of the agreement signed. In this case it is very important what the governments are doing but what's also important is relations and friendships between the people. From Guatemala and from Belize; students, children, workers, police authorities, and mayors etc."
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett,
"It's very symbolic but it's also very important. The OAS office has been instrumental in the investigating incidents and also getting complaints and investigating those complaints so us and the Guatemalan forces coming together, cooperating, satisfies the tenth paragraph of the confidence building measures that was signed on September 7th, 2005."
While the border patrols will continue. Talks scheduled for this month were postponed last week.
