BELMOPAN, Belize, Sept 5, CMC -Prime Minister John Briceño says he expects to receive an update report from Home Affairs Minister, Kareem Musa on Friday as the controversy continues over the “abduction” of a Belizean national and his surrender to Guatemalan authorities.
Once I get that report I will see what it presents and probably have to decided what is the next step,” Prime Minister Briceño said.
On August 24, the Belize Police Department said it had officially launched investigation into an incident involving Budna, which occurred on August 22.
“The Policia National Civil (PNC) of Guatemala has confirmed that Mr. Ryan Joseph Budna is in their custody pursuant to an arrest warrant; however, they have not disclosed the details surrounding his apprehension,” the police said, adding that it’s own investigation was initiated based on an official report filed by a witness to the event.
“The witness reported observing a confrontation involving several individuals, one of whom matched the description of Mr. Budna, who was subsequently placed into a dark-coloured SUV bearing a Belize City license plate,” the police added.
Prime Minister Briceño in announcing that he has asked his Home Affairs Minister for an update on the situation, comes amid reports circulating here for an independent investigation into the matter, as Budna claimed that police officers here were behind his kidnapping.
Prime Minister Briceño said that once he gets the report “and I am telling you right now, if there is the need to name an independent investigation, I will do it, my government will do”.
He said the return of Budna “was not sanctioned by the government of Belize.
“We have nothing to do with it,” he added.
Several attorneys have now indicated a willingness to fight for Budna’s constitutional rights Belize, with Arthur Saldivar telling reporters “we all have a right to liberty and freedom of movement.
“So, where Mr. Budna was forcibly detained. In fact prior to his detention he was severely beaten and then spirited away. That is a crime, in fact not a crime, but a series of crimes. We saw the video, Belize has seen the video that clearly shows that in respect of the police department there can be no ambiguity as to the involvement of the police.
“We saw one police officer who by his omission to act implicated the department in what occurred with Mister Budna. So the police department is responsible for a Belizean citizen being spirited away in an illegal and extrajudicial manner to a country that claims us,”
Saldivar said adding that his colleagues have prepared legal documents to be filed before a court of law.
“It is sad that this is where we are. I know that for the general public there is this belief that when persons are handled in a particular way they have done something to warrant that kind of action. The truth of it is, it is never justified to exert that kind of physical violence on a person in any circumstance,” Saldivar said, noting that several government-owned buildings sit right in the area where Budna was abducted, and every one of them has surveillance cameras.
Prime Minister Briceño said he has not seen any such video and that “the report from the police will be able to show light on all of that”
Attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley, said while he is no fan of Budna, there are questions regarding his removal from the country that need to be answered.
“That is the biggest issue. we are distracted and distracting ourselves over the personality. He is clearly an unpleasant person to put it mildly. We have to be proud of Belizeans. Nobody is supporting him for what he did and represents.
“He is a convicted criminal and his conviction is of a terrible kind. So nobody can support that part. But we cannot be distracted over that to say, well he is a dog, carry him, because something far worst would be involved,” Bradley added.
CMC./ak/ir/2025