It's the second day with the 32 cent price increase in fuel, and the first show of public discontent is being made by those feeling it first and hardest.
Taxi men in Belize City today began displaying their frustration with the new prices with a single line scrawled across their windshields that expressed not only their sentiment but that of much of the driving population. We caught up with a few of them who told us why they are choosing to display their feelings.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
The message written on taxi windshields is simple: "gasoline is a killer." It is blunt. But powerful as the 32 cent increase that has driven the pump price for premium fuel to 8 dollars and 33 cents is hitting this section of society the hardest. Steven Diaz and George Caceres both Taxi men at the Novelo's bus station say that they simply can't afford the increase, because they can't pass on the price increase to customers.
Taximan #1,
"We have to pay a lot for our gas and when people jump in our car and we tell them $6 or $7 they say that is too expensive. We can't be taking those pressures out here because we are taxi drivers and we have to survive. We have to go for the lowest and if we don't go for the lowest then we will take a pressure while they are still raising gas. They must can do something better than this. Every time you hear the gas is going up; nothing else is going up, only gas is going up."
Taximan #2,
"Most of the people who ride taxi are the poor people and people who come from villages and when they come and want to ride taxi and tell them about a price of $7 then they fuss and compare it to Cayo or close to the border in Chetumal. But up there they can go across the border and full up their tanks and then come back but we can't do that. So here in Belize the gas is so expensive and then it affects we a lot because the people don't want to pay $7 for a stop. All we will do is try and do something against the government because I mean come on the gas going up and up and we can't put up our fares."
Taximan #3,
"It causes a lot of arguments inside your car with the people who you are riding with. Some of the distances are very far and we also burn a gallon of gas. Sometimes we take these people and the streets are very bad and the gas keep raising up."
Those successive price hikes have forced these taxi men to vent their frustration in the only place where the space is free- the windshields of their vehicles. They say they'll keep on showing their signs until something is done or they are heard.
Taximan #1,
"We want to know why the government continues to raise the gas and kill us with gas out when we have to survive. Every time they raise the price and when you go out of the country you get the gas cheap. Our gas needs to be cheap too. Why does our gas have to be so expensive for us? We had to put a sign so they could see it for themselves. We intend to keep it out here until something come better. I want everybody to see it. Orange Walk could stand up for their rights for more water so why can't we taxi drivers stand up for our rights for gas. They must something better than that and we will keep the sign until they do something better than this."
The message is heard, but with the economic situation at a critical juncture, it’s not something that these taxi men or the Belizean public can hold their breath on.
While the price of fuel in Belize is at an all time high whenever there are increases the hardest hit section of the country is the poorest a gallon of premium in the Toledo District sells for a little under $8.50, with the extra attributable to transport costs.