Prime Minister, Hon. Dean Barrow held a press conference on Tuesday, January 9th, to appraise the nation of the developments following the discovery of the bodies of four residents of the George Street Area, who are known affiliates of the George Street Gang. The bodies of 40-year-old Keino Quallo, 30-year-old Leonard Myers, 28-year-old Anthony Perez and 19-year-old Albert Fuentes were found at an apartment building at the corner of Plues and Dean Streets on Tuesday morning.
At the press conference, the Prime Minister was flanked by the Minister of National Security, Hon. John Saldivar; Minister of Housing, Hon. Michael Finnegan; Minister of Social Transformation, Hon. Anthony ‘Boots’ Martinez; CEO in the Ministry of National Security, Col. George Lovell, Commissioner of Police Designate, Allen Whylie; Commander of the Belize Defence Force, General Dario Tapia; and Officer Commanding the Crimes Investigation Branch, Superintendent Alden Dawson. During the press conference, the PM announced that he held a meeting with leaders of the George Street Gang in an effort to placate high tensions that had begun to escalate in the neighborhood. Coming out of the meeting was the bad news that the George Street gang was convinced that the killings had been executed by the police, more specifically the Gang Suppression Unit (GSU). This allegation stated the Prime Minister was, “utterly unfounded” and it constituted a serious allegation against the integrity of the GSU, the Security Forces and the Government of Belize.
On the other hand, the gang was convinced that the act was not the doing of any one rival and as such, they would not retaliate against any other gang members. They also gave the assurance that there will not be retaliation against the state. PM Barrow said that he was reasonably confident that this is not going to happen. He explained that key leaders of the gang “left the city under arrangements with the security forces”. They will remain outside of the city over the next few days.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister assured the citizenry that the Government and the security forces are determined that on the ground, there will be measures put in place to prevent any retaliatory actions. He said that the most important ingredient to this will be the security forces doing their job. That job will include a special emergency proclamation that will be done on the area to seal off the zone to prevent any further incidents in the neighborhood. The Prime Minister added that because of the nature of the investigation into the killings, a interlocutor will be assigned to take material evidence and information from residents, who would want to offer their assistance.
