And so, why is this soldier taking the extraordinary and courageous step of coming forward to speak as a whistleblower? That's what Jules asked him.
Jules Vasquez:
"Why are you choosing to speak out?"
BDF Whistleblower, Ex-Commanding Officer - Services and Support Battalion
"I love the Belize Defence Force. The Belize Defence Force is an institution that you will not find anywhere in Belize. It's way better than any other institution. But what I have learned by, while I was in the Belize Defense Force is the fact that political heads, political heads tend to get involve. If you would remove politics from the military, you would have a perfect institution. But when you get political heads placing their hands into military matters, it's something that will deteriorate the institution, the professionalism of the institution, the integrity of the institution itself, the standard of the institution. I came forward because I was heartbroken to know that we have all ex military personnel at the ministry at the time. You had the minister who was, a lieutenant in the Belize Defence Force, Minister Florencio Marin. You have Minister Oscar Mira, who retired as a major. You had the next higher rank, Brigadier General Dario Tapia. He was the commander of the Defence Force. He was the CEO at the Ministry of Defence at the time."
"And you thought to yourself that you know what? BDF running the entire Ministry and so forth. That means things will become much better because, you know, they know what it is."
"That they would want better for the BDF, but we're seeing now that from the time they were there, that things have been just going downhill. And, if we don't change that now Jules, I 'seh dog eat wi suppa.'"
"Our Prime Minister needs to find a solution. The people of Belize need to understand that what is going on in the BDF, needs to stop."
