unclear Military 3,000 | 0 1 civilian killed | |
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The 2016 Belize-Guatemala border standoff started when Belizean army soldiers shot dead a 13-year-old Guatemalan along the Sarstoon River, in the southern border between Guatemala and Belize.
Events
Guatemalan authorities say teenager Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano, his father and younger brother were attacked April 20, 2016 as they planted crops near the Sarstoon River in the northern department of Peten. The father and brother were wounded. In a different version of events, Belize says its troops shot in self-defence after coming under fire while on patrol, and added that the body of the teenager was found just inside Belizean territory. Belize's government said in a statement that according to initial reports, its security forces were investigating illegal land clearing in the Cebada area of the Chiquibul National Park in western Belize when they detained a Guatemalan man suspected of illicit activities. It said the patrol came under fire around nightfall and shot back in self-defense. Before leaving the location just inside Belizean territory, the soldiers found the boy's body, which was taken to Belize City for an autopsy. The Guatemalan foreign ministry said the autopsy conducted in Belize determined that the boy had been shot eight times, including four times in the back, by a high-powered, military-grade rifle.
In response to the shooting the Guatemalan government ordered the deployment of 3,000 troops along its border, including the special forces unite know as the Kaibiles.