Tonight, 8 Chinese nationals are in the Hattieville Prison charged with illegal entry after the entered the country without visas yesterday. They came on a flight from Cuba at around 12:30 – but how they got on that flight is the first big mystery because – as anyone who’s flown from Belize to the United States will know you can’t get on that plane unless you have a visa.
These 8 Chinese, 7 men and 1 woman had no visa, still they were allowed on the flight. They got off the flight in Belize and were found without a visa and that’s where the second mystery pops up. Typically anyone with a visa issue is put right back unto the plane they came off. But, though there was almost an hour and a half between the time when the flight from Cuba came and when it left – they weren’t sent back! Instead they were detained. Director of Immigration Gareth Murillo told us that was because the immigration office was trying to ascertain how they got unto the flight without a visa in the first place. Another senior ministry official told us it was because the flight was full.
Whatever the case, they were detained and taken to Magistrate’s Court today where they all pleaded guilty to illegal entry. Magistrate Tracy Sosa ordered them to be removed form the country as soon as possible.
After that, all eight Chinese who are now deemed prohibited immigrants were escorted into the Belize Immigration Vehicle and escorted to the Hattieville Prison where they will remain tentatively until April 1. We were also told that while no criminal charges arise for their illegal entry, if charges were to be levied against anyone, those charges would have to be assessed upon the owner of the airline company, Aero Caribbean which is based in Cuba.
In court the group was represented by attorney, Oswald Twist and Wilson Lee did the translation. The next Aero Caribbean flight is not expected until next week Wednesday, April 1, and when the prohibited immigrants are expected to return back to Cuba.
Director Gareth Murillo conceded that Cuba is a difficult country to leave – not the kind of place where one just hops on a plane, and that makes the undocumented arrival of theses Chinese even more suspicious. He accepts that there was some kind of collusion that allowed them to get to Belize and also agrees that they most likely weren’t here on vacation.
It is notable that – according to a senior source in the Ministry - because of suspected visa fraud the visa stamps were recently changed.
