Earlier in the news, we gave you an update on Ryan Budna. And as we have reported, back in May, he was whipped by a man he claimed he had been investigating. There were no charges levied, though the entire incident was caught on camera. There were reports that Jose Mai intervened on behalf of the assailant, but yesterday, he denied those claims.
Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture & Food Security
"To be honest, I don't even watch Facebook or what's going on. I have more important things to do than look for Facebook gossip. I just don't like it. I don't deal with it. So I don't even know what's going on there."
"What I understand is what they tell me, that's its on Facebook, but I don't pay that attention. I have many other important things to do in my ministry. I don't have time to waste with that."
Reporter
"So no intervention on Padrons'?"
Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture & Food Security
"Absolutely not, none, absolutely."
Reporter
"He's that constituent?"
Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture & Food Security
"He's a constituent of mine, definitely."
Reporter
"And that's where it ends?"
Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture & Food Security
"I have had no intervention in anything that deals with that gentleman that he was mentioned, none at all."
Post Office Suspends Certain Shipments To US, Will Small Businesses Suffer?
Shipments of certain goods to the US have been temporarily suspended by the Belize Postal Service. This is a result of President Trump's new trade tariffs. That eliminated the longstanding duty-free exemption for low value shipments. As such goods are now taxed from the first dollar. Previously, they were duty free up to 800 USD. The customs duties are now also the responsibility of the sender, not the recipient and must be paid to US Customs and Border Protection before the item enters the US. Therefore, every shipment must be declared and cleared with US Custom except gifts of less than 100 USD and mail containing only documents.
That makes it logistically impossible for postal services all over the world. And that made the very last day that shipments could go out from Belize's Post Office - and many other post offices ranging from Japan to Australia to Mexico - and many more. And today was also the day many small business owners in Belize found out. Courtney Menzies spoke to a few of them over Zoom and has this story.
Small businesses that ship to the US received an alarming notice that the Post Office would be suspending certain shipments. That's after the US government issued an executive order to suspend duty-free de minimis treatment for all countries. This takes effect on August 29 and so the Post Office sent a release informing customers that today is their last day to ship products to the States, and that they had until midday to do so.
It sent some business owners into a frenzy.
Kendra Griffith, Owner, Hello Body Belize
"I had so many calls, about 5 to 6, they did a courtesy and said hey, we noticed you haven't sent your packages yet, we just wanted to let you know, you have up until 12pm today to send those packages. So I kind of panicked, one of them wasn't ready so I reached out to everyone who had pending orders, hadn't made payment as yet and I said you guy have up until 12 and I live about 30 minutes away from the post office so I said you actually have up until 11:30. My dad does my deliveries so I had to call him back, tell him he needs to get back from Benque all the way back to my house so that we could take the stuff out so it was hectic, it was rather hectic."
Jolie Pollard, Owner, IKOOMA
"Today I was supposed to send a package to the brother of a customer who lives in St Lucia she tried my product when I was in Jamaica last year and so her brother was going to take it from the US to her in St Lucia and she was like, she's tried so many hair products and this is the only thing that has ever worked for her and she was really excited to get it but now that's on hold and with this business, I'm thinking about my customers and I feel really bad that she needs to wait longer because she's just like, I'm out I need more!"
"And not having much time to prepare, I got the news today, the package was ready to go out this afternoon and I'm being told, seeing the press release this morning saying you have until 12, I saw the release at 12:30."
Indira Andrewin, Owner, Cocolove
"We had shipments that couldn't make it and I wish we could have gotten notified a week ago, a couple days ago, because at least we would have been prepared."
And for these small business owners, it's a blow to their sales and to the relationship they've carefully crafted with their US customers.
Kendra Griffith, Owner, Hello Body Belize
"It does affect us because we have, I think like most small businesses in Belize or products that are crafted in Belize, tourists come in and they try our products and they leave and we build a relationship with them because they send us emails or messages and let us know, oh, I tried your product, how can I get more? I'm from the US. And then we offer the option of shipping via Post Office and we proceed from there so we have built a customer base in the US and we also ship to Belizeans living in the US who gift our products or who also want to try our products, like Belizean made products. The thing is, the US has Sephora, has Ulta, which are big skincare and makeup companies that hosts a series of different brands but we do have people who recognize and have seen the results with our products so it did create a piece of fear not only for us as the vendor but the customer."
Jolie Pollard, Owner, IKOOMA
"We have a really good relationship with our US customers and I was just in Las Vegas not that long ago and I attended a whole seminar on breaking into the US market and so I have been very carefully developing a strategy for that and like I said, reviewing my pricing, really trying to keep with one of my core values from when I first started IKOOMA was making a luxury product accessible to Belizeans at home and that's one of the things I've always cared about so I've been looking at other strategies to continue doing that while also entering the US market and so with this new development, that will just affect the way I approach the US market."
Indira Andrewin, Owner, Cocolove
"To me, it's not that surprising because there's a lot going on in the US but of course it's very disappointing for our business because we've worked for years and years gathering all these clients from the US and we have like all these clients and now there's no shipments that we're going to send out now because of the situation."
"We were actually really working hard these past few months in trying to build a website, in trying to secure funds to launch a travel line so we could put in gift shops and all these investments so we can grow the brand and so that our products can be in the States and people re order and our product grows. But now we just have to pivot and we have to look at other options close by and just see how we can manage now."
And for the three of them, "pivot" is the key word. They'll now have to figure out other possible shipping methods - or, more than likely, new markets.
Kendra Griffith, Owner, Hello Body Belize
"Our goal is definitely to break into the Caribbean market and we're just strengthening our operations, I'm also taking course on how to move forward with exportation so that's our next goal."
Indira Andrewin, Owner, Cocolove
"Even though we're waiting and we're going to see what Belize says, the prices have already doubled and quadrupled. We went in last month and it used to be reasonable to send packages but now it's like so high and I just imagine it getting higher so I think we just have to look at new markets and of course my number one priority is Belize so just like zoning in, focusing on building our community here. And then we have Mexico, our neighboring countries and just like try to figure out something else because if you don't pivot when challenges come in business then you're just going to fail."
But that doesn't mean they're not feeling the pressure:
Kendra Griffith, Owner, Hello Body Belize
"It kind of feels like a foot going over us as a small business, every time we feel like we can scale up there's something reminding us that no, you need to stay down a bit so it was a lot in a little bit of time and hopefully we can find a way to prepare for it and still keep our customer base in the US."
Indira Andrewin, Owner, Cocolove
"It is very discouraging yes but I feel like as a small business owner in Belize, you just get so much discouragement sometimes that it kind of numbs you in a way and you just like laugh it off because it's like, really? Again? You're just trying so hard and it's just like let down after let down and after a point, it's just like, we just have to do something else or else nothing will happen."
Jolie Pollard, Owner, IKOOMA
"I've been having a lot of fun with this, over the past 6 years I have just built my life around this brand and building IKOOMA and facing all of these challenges head on, making steps forward, steps backward, it's just the dance and I've made a lot of sacrifices, I consciously choose not to have a family, I consciously choose to be single, not to have children, I make a lot of sacrifices and it's just like, alright, let's see how we're going to solve this problem now. Everyday is just how we're going to solve problems and I think that's part of the resilience of being an entrepreneur."
The Belize Postal Service's press release ends by saying, quote, "We are making every effort to enable the resumption of all shipments as soon as possible in compliance with the new regulations." End quote.
Preserving Belmopan Cultural Heritage While Urban Planning
Belmopan is taking steps to preserve its cultural heritage while strengthening the resilience of its communities. At the University of Belize, key stakeholders gathered for a workshop which is hosted by NICH in collaboration with UNESCO. The objective is to maintain the culture while shaping sustainable urban development. We learned more today.
Carren Williams, Expert in Urban Planning
"It will benefit the city because intangible cultural heritage is something that is of great concern and that for example certain languages and certain practices in Belize are going down and so what this project will do is enable those types of cultural activities and cultural heritage to be promoted and to ensure that they don't die."
"One of the activities that we're looking at is the Belmopan urban development plan, what we normally refer to as the Belmopan masterplan that was developed in 2016/2017 and they're looking and identifying how does that plan include intangible cultural heritage and perhaps maybe make some recommendations on some of the things that we need to do to improve the protection of our cultural heritage in Belize."
Carlos Sanchez, Associate Project Officer, Living Heritage Entity, UNESCO
"When we talk about Belmopan, we talk about all the Creole traditions, cultural practices of local communities, also archeological sites and all of those cultural practices that are a part of the living heritage."
"It is very important to safeguard these practices because they are part of the ways of life of the communities and how they inhabit the cities so when we are designing and planning urban strategies, the idea is to really try to integrate communities' views and perspectives on how to safeguard their practices and how to make them also sustainable. The idea is that through culture we can really contribute to a sustainable urban future."
