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Belize has removed the muzzle from its news media, letting them report on the latest big narcotics and human trafficking busts in that country. Why is that? There are many things in the air over Belize, none of it good. All of it leads back to what we’ve been reporting for months, specifically Belize’s corrupt, national security, immigration and police forces.
Recently, more than 2.6 tons of cocaine literally fell out of the sky on a road near Punta Gorda when a narco twin engine made an emergency landing. Arrested in the aftermath were seven police officers and one customs officer implicated in the unscheduled arrival of the estimated $140-million cargo.
This latest news installment joins reports of big drug plane busts in a Corozal village, one in Caye Caulker and another in the Northern Two Caye on the Lighthouse Reef atoll. All got into Belize airspace with the help of paid government officials and their “business” partners.
The Punta Gorda incident tops off a string of reported Belize national security breaches, all indicative of the systemic corruption that continues to characterize this country as a dangerous home for its citizens and perilous destination for tourists. It’s the same brand of corruption that allows human traffickers easy passage for their “products” through Belize borders.
Followers of this blog will know that that we revealed a DEA map showing that San Pedro Ambergris Caye and other seaside locations in Belize are busy access points for the drug trade. It’s mostly cocaine, on its way from South America to the US. We also pointed out that there were more than 100 drug-linked murders in Belize last year. This flies in the face of the Belize Tourism Board’s come-ons to enjoy sunny beach holidays.
There’s more over the air in Belize. It’s ironic that a recent well-publicized aerial shot of a beach art installation on Sergeant’s Caye got a lot of traction worldwide for its inclusion in the eco documentary “Harmony.” Overhead photographers capturing the bird’s-eye-view of the eco shore graffiti could just have easily spotted planes full of drugs and/or illegal passengers, their flights greased with bribery dollars for Belize officials.
News coverage of Belize immigration rackets continues apace. In this blog, I’ve reported on the many Belize channels for easy immigration scamming. It’s the same sanctioned criminality that allows the famous “Expeditor” to maintain a lucrative business providing everything from passport stamps to residency status for those who can pay.
It’s clear the latest stories on human smuggling activities relate directly back to people like the “Expeditor,” many of them located in Belize embassies. For a fee these embassy officials in Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti, for example, work with their own government to produce visas for foreign nationals. Once in Belize, the short-term “visitors” can use their Belize visa to more easily enter the US, Canada and elsewhere.
This sleazy system got some unwanted spotlight this fall when three flights, all using Haiti as the take-off point, brought a combined 34 Chinese nationals to Belize. Previously, phony visas were also issued through the same embassy bribery system to Japanese and Sri Lankan travelers. These are the ones that got reported on. It’s just the thin edge of the wedge.
I’m talking about the peculiar homegrown appetite for graft among Belize authorities that never gets dealt with. No one at the top gets even so much as a knuckle wrapped when it’s obvious that they are responsible. Small players, such as police rank and file and the odd customs officer, take the blame. No one at the top takes responsibility for what their news media are calling a national security system in great peril. It’s a loud message saying that Belize’s citizens continue to go unprotected by its government and a national security department, a force that escapes accountability for his actions or lack of them.
Remarkably, these news reports, which chronicle a deeply rotten national security system, appear at the same time Belize has released its latest strategy to attract tourists. The “Belize Tourism Board Action Plan 2010-12” calls for deployment of social media to increase Belize tourism. ORT plans to continue its own deployment of social media, using it to equate Belize travel with endorsement of human trafficking. We will also continue to remind potential tourists that Belize is under tourism boycott and that they travel there at great personal risk.
