BDF Commander says the force has received value for money on boots and food supplies

As the public discourse continues over the millions of dollars in payments and allegations that invoices may have been structured to avoid closer scrutiny, the Commander of the Belize Defence Force, Brigadier General Anthony Velasquez, says he has received no complaints about the quality of boots issued to soldiers or about shortages and low-quality produce supplied to BDF bases.  Commander Velasquez told Love News that, from the BDF’s operational standpoint, there have been no reports that soldiers are receiving substandard boots or that the food being delivered to military installations is inadequate or insufficient.

Anthony Velasquez, Commander, Belize Defence Force: “When it comes to procurement and contracting all of that that is handled at the ministry level. Okay, so I have no input or no knowledge of how the procurement or the contracting occurs. What I am responsible for and what I know is that we receive food, i.e. vegetables, and we receive kit and equipment for the soldiers of the Belize Defence Force. Since I have taken over the food that we receive and the vegetables and everything else has been on par. It has been very good. Should there be any incidents where the food that we receive or even the boots that you alluded to that we receive is substandard then that will be reported directly to the ministry and to the supplier and the item will be sent back and we will not accept anymore until the proper standards are adhered to. That is my job as the Commander of the Belize Defense Force to ensure that we receive value for money and that we receive the proper food for the nutrition of our  soldiers. I will not tolerate any situation where we receive substandard food or equipment for our soldiers. And if we do, then like I mentioned, there’s a process to send it back and also to report it directly off the chain of command and to ensure that that does not occur again.”

It is noteworthy that Velasquez’ comments are based on the last seven months since he has been in command with the majority of the Mira invoices dating as far back as 2021.