Questions Mount Over Penner’s Land Holdings Near BDF Training Area

Another piece of information emerging out of this incident is where Elvin Penner was able to acquire several parcels of land that the BDF utilized for its training.  Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of National Defence and Border Security, Francis Usher, says longstanding concerns surrounding land ownership in the Baldy Beacon area may have contributed to former minister Elvin Penner allegedly feeling emboldened to enter BDF-controlled territory earlier today.  According to Usher, preliminary information suggests that Penner had somehow acquired multiple parcels of land in and around areas historically used and occupied by the Belize Defence Force for military purposes. The resurfacing of this information has now placed added concerns within the ministry about how those lands were transferred and whether the acquisitions should be reviewed.  CEO Usher told Love News that some of the land transactions personally raise serious questions.

Francis Usher, CEO, Ministry of Defense and Border Security: “In the 2011-2012 time frame, somehow Mr. Penner was allowed to get leases, at least seven of them, for parcels of land within the BDF training area. He ended up in his name with at least seven leases and there is another Penner by the name of Lena Penner, who I believe is a relative of his, that that ended up with seven leases as well. And in 2020, in September 2020 to be precise, just before the general election, those lease titles were then converted to actual titles within the BDF training area. So effectively a private owner ended up with land in our training area that has always been established. How they were able to do that, I won’t speculate. I’ll just say that we have looked at various options on what we can do about it. And we’re still looking at that. But that’s how I feel he felt empowered to be in the area and try to obstruct the BDF from doing their job for all Belizeans, because what we’re doing is trying to keep Belizeans safe so that these munitions don’t cause another catastrophe when someone else is experimenting with it. So I think that’s all of that is what led us to today.” 

CEO Usher says the BDF is now actively exploring possible legal and administrative avenues to reclaim the parcels of land in question, noting that the matter has become a priority given the operational importance of the area to the military.