SoE Detainees Set for Release as State of Emergency Nears End

With the current State of Emergency set to expire on Monday, attention is now turning to the release of approximately thirty detainees who have been held at the Belize Central Prison since the measure was implemented last month.  The SoE was declared after a series of gun violence that had potential for further escalation.  The group of suspected players was rounded up with a hope of quelling the anger and animosity.  According to Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, the operation largely achieved its intended objective through mediation efforts via the Leadership Intevention Unit (LIU).

Elton Bennett, CEO, Ministry of Home Affairs: “As relates to the current state of emergency we are well underway. It expires the 8th of June. So we have been at it for a couple of weeks now. This is a very targeted SOE in that there are certain specific individuals that we were targeting. We currently have 30 of the 50 that we are looking for incarcerated right now at the Kolbe Foundation. Those 13 individuals are brought in. The efforts of the Leadership Intervention Unit has been very instrumental in mediation efforts. So the leadership team, Mr. Dawson, Mr. Nuri Muhammed, Raymond Gongra and others from the LIU, have been regularly visiting these incarcerated personnel. As a matter of fact, we had a session this morning here at the Kolbe Foundation where the mediation focused on conflict resolution, speaking with these individuals, trying to iron out their differences whilst here at the prison during the SOE. So we’re very happy with what we’ve achieved so far, because we were able to deal with those influencers and those leaders from different groups and then take the discussion directly to them to be very targeted and very pointed with what we want the behavior to be with, to be in accordance with across the country. So we believe we’ve had some significant progress in that regard. Those mediation programs which has been going on since the SOE started are designed to achieve just that. Trying to make a difference with these individuals, conflict resolution, trying to help their decision-making process as they go about interacting across their communities. So these programs are done by the Leadership Intervention Unit who are very skilled with mediation and we believe we will, at the end of this SOE, would have had the impact that we wanted to achieve.”

According to CEO Bennett, the operation was intelligence-driven and focused on specific persons believed to pose a threat to public safety rather than broad community-wide arrests.  He added that unlike previous States of Emergency, this one was highly targeted at specific individuals identified through intelligence gathering as being linked to ongoing gang conflicts and violent criminal activity.  As it relates to the efficacy of the SoE, CEO Bennett says the long-term benefits are yet to be seen.  

Elton Bennett, CEO, Ministry of Home Affairs: “At this point it’s difficult to measure. We believe we’re having success because we’re targeting those individuals and we believe the impact that we’ll have on them whenever they’re released back into society will make a difference. So we can only measure this after they have been released and to see the difference in their behavior and the attitude when they’re released back into their communities. Other than that we believe that we’ve been able to prevent a lot of violence and conflicts, particularly in Belize City with these individuals take an oath of the picture. So it’s very hard for us to measure the terence, but we believe we certainly had an impact in that regard.”

This State of Emergency was declared on May 8 and came into effect on May 9 following a spike in gang-related murders and retaliatory violence in Belize City and parts of the Belize District. The declaration covered several high-risk areas across Belize City and surrounding communities where police believed tensions between rival groups were contributing to an increase in shootings and murders.