BELMOPAN, Belize, Jul 25, CMC – A former Belizean diplomat has been granted BDZ$10,000 (One Belize dollar=US$0.49 cents) bail after he appeared in a magistrate’s court, charged with four offenses, including sexual assault, harm, and procuring defilement by threat.
Said “Badi” Guerra, 50, who once served as Belize’s ambassador to Cuba and previously held the office of mayor in Benque Viejo del Carmen, appeared in court in relation to an incident that occurred July 14, when Guerra was allegedly in the company of a 16-year-old boy, and the two were reportedly drinking alcohol.
Guerra, the brother of Cayo West Area Representative, Miguel Guerra, was escorted to the magistrate’s court, where he was formally charged.
Speaking to reporters after his court appearance, Guerra said he believes that it’s important that people know the correct thing.
“People sometimes know the negative things, the false things, the incorrect things, but they need to know exactly what is going on. will not, and I must tell you that I will not get into details because, as you know, this is an ongoing process,” he said, adding that he does not want to compromise the police investigation into the matter.
“One thing I must make mention of is, I am being wrongly accuse of rape. It is not rape and I would like whosoever [that] put it up on the media that term because it is not rape. So, that being said, I would like to mention three things, if you allow me, of course.
“Belize knows me. This community knows me because I’ve worked with children and young people over the years. Since I was very young, I was actually the youth president for the youth council of Cayo West at some point in time. So I’ve always worked with young people and children and this is the first time that these allegations pop up.
“It is the first time that I am seeing myself involved in these kind of things. That is fine. As I mentioned to some people, not all of us are immune, you know. No one is immune, I must say, to these kinds of things. That’s what I tell the people, the public out there, nobody is immune to these sort of things.
“Secondly, I would like to call on our community, our society, to please be a bit more compassionate. I’m not talking about me, not talking about myself, I am talking about every time there is an incident, there are some people happen to do things. The society immediately jumps up, condemns, crucifies when it’s only an allegation.”
CMC/ag/ir/2024