Earlier you saw the images as looters terrorized businesses in downtown Belize City. Today that sent a ripple of fear through the city's commercial center and by late afternoon it had swollen into a flood of worry with most businesses preferring to just shut down rather than face the possible wrath of a mob. Today as businesses continue their losses which are now in the hundreds of thousands its apparent nobody expected it would come to this. That is especially true for Hofius which was the first downtown store looted. Owner John Crump says that while they are still tallying up the loss the real loss is the sense of security after 50 years.
Jackie Rowe, Assistant Manager - Hofius Store
"The store, as you can see on some of the footage, was completely vandalized. There was glass everywhere from the big glass windows we have, the glass had shattered, and inside of the store a lot of merchandise has been stolen but in addition to that there has been a lot of vandalism inside the store; people destroying things just for the sake of destroying them. Not stealing them, just destroying them."
Keith Swift,
What are some of the things people went with?
Jackie Rowe,
"Power tools, small appliances, all our basketballs have been taken, and we are not really sure about everything. I know we got some vacuum cleaners and I believe a generator has gone. We are still in the assessment stage right now to find out, a lot of tools have gone as well like saw blades."
John Crump, Owner - Hofius
"For 50 years we've never had a break-in through these windows and that saddens me because it illustrates the extent to which I think morality has declined in the country. Okay a lot of people are quite angry, rightly so, about what's been happening in the country but this is not the way to solve the problem. I suspect that what has happened is that there was a rough element of people out there. We found their things in the store here, we found half-empty bottles of liquor. So these were just hooligans but unfortunately a lot of people are to blame for what transpired."
Despite the looting Hofius expects to re-open for business as early as tomorrow. Their losses are estimated to be around $100,000. And while Hofius might re-open in the next few days they same can't be said for Venus Photos and Records. The popular music and photo outlet was the hardest hit. Shelves once filled with phones, CDs, cameras, and watches were cleaned off and in some cases even the shelves were gone. The ground was littered with CD-Rs and videocassettes. We were there as owner Leopold Silva arrived to survey damage and we spoke to one frustrated employee.
Venus Employee,
"We saw the crowd coming in and tried to do something but the crowd just came in and we couldn't do anything. We saw the police just running away and letting the crowd come in. They came in and they took everything, they left nothing. Everything gone."
Keith Swift,
Were you in the store?
Venus Employee,
"No I was not in the store but I work in the store and we were passing by and we heard the crowd coming. We tried to do something but the crowd was too much and we couldn't do anything. The police just came and they went; we couldn't do anything about it."
Keith Swift,
You said everything is gone?
Venus Employee,
"Everything. Even the pieces of glass
which they broke they took. Everything, everything they didn't leave anything. Well I tell you nothing, nada."
"This thing shouldn't have happened. What is government doing? How far do they want people to go before they realize what they are doing? You know if they had done something before none of this would have happened. But it looks like some of us don't think with fi we head or we use the wrong head."
Leopold Silva, Venus Store Owner
"Sadness. Disappointment. I assume its randomness."
Jules Vasquez,
Do you support them in anyway? Obviously yes your business was just robbed but this is part of, in some sense, a broader movement.
Leopold Silva,
"I don't what to say Jules, I just feel disappointed that it had to happen. I feel disappointed all of this had to happen. I think the biggest loser is Belize."
Silva has vowed that Venus will return. Venus shares store space with King's Music Store and that establishment suffered minor damage.
