Belize’s former Ambassador to Cuba, Stated Badi Guerra, was granted bail on Thursday after showing earlier than the Justice of the Peace’s courtroom in Benque Viejo del Carmen on a number of severe fees, together with sexual assault involving a minor.
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Guerra, 50, was charged with 4 counts of sexual assault, one depend of hurt, and one depend of procuring defilement by risk. The courtroom granted him bail within the sum of $10,000 Belize {dollars}, with two sureties of the identical quantity. The fees stem from a proper grievance made final week by a 16-year-old male from San Ignacio City, Cayo District.
In line with reviews acquired by Love Information, the incident allegedly befell on Monday, July 14, in Benque Viejo del Carmen. The complainant was reportedly drunk on the time of the alleged assault. Guerra, now a schoolteacher, is accused of coercing the minor into consuming alcoholic drinks and luring him to his house, the place the alleged incident occurred.
In a press release to the media following his courtroom look, Guerra maintained his innocence and urged reporters to make use of correct authorized terminology. “This isn’t rape,” he mentioned, emphasizing that the matter must be correctly characterised.
Guerra beforehand served as Belize’s Ambassador to Cuba through the Barrow administration and held a number of high-level positions, together with Chief of Protocol in 2017. He’s additionally a Commissioner of the Excessive Courtroom and performed a public function through the ICJ Referendum consciousness marketing campaign in 2018.
The case has sparked nationwide outrage. The Nationwide Girls’s Fee launched a press release urging pressing motion to finish the sexual abuse of kids and calling for stronger protections to safeguard minors from exploitation and hurt.
As well as, Belizeans have taken to social media, denouncing the alleged actions of the previous diplomat and demanding accountability and justice for the survivor.
The case is ongoing as Guerra awaits his subsequent courtroom look.
