Pop says she has not reported her losses to NEMO.
And, in other farming news, the PUP area rep for Orange Walk South is reporting that 5 farmers are being held - in his words - unlawfully by the authorities.
The five men from shipyard were caught last night near Santa Familia allegedly trying to smuggle 35 heads of cattle over to Guatemala, all this after curfew hours.
Cayo Police have them detained for Breach of curfew and move cattle without a permit authorized by BAHA. But, they also have to detain them as border jumpers because of suspected contact with Guatemala.
For the PUP's Jose Mai it's an abuse of power for the cattlemen just trying to make a sale. The Commissioner told us why police see it differently:
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"He says they are being held unlawfully. What is the police's perspective on this?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I want to disagree with the honorable gentlemen, in the sense that the fact that these people are being detained, it's not an unlawful act. Let me first and foremost say that you are fully aware of the fact that just about a week or so ago it was announced by the ministry of food and agriculture that we have now regularized the trade of cattle between Belize and Guatemala and subsequent to that I think about 2 days later in respect to Belize and Mexico. So while they have been regularizing the trade of cattle between the 3 countries it was made clear that the trade of cattle must be done through the established port of entries, which would be the western border and the northern border. These people were found with these cattle on the Bullet Tree Road, which means that they were using the Calla Creek/Santa Rosa area which would be an illegal border crossing point and more so is that this was being done during curfew hours. So they were all acting in violation of the curfew. They were found with Quetzal which is Guatemalan money. So the fact that they were found with Quetzal we are not sure if they may have already come into contact with Guatemalans. Based on that they were swabbed and placed on quarantine. We want to be sure that they are not positive of the Covid19 virus, because even if we were to charge them for the breach of curfew the court would not accept them to be arraigned unless they have a test from the ministry of health to say that they are free of the Covid19 virus."
In his note to the media, the PUP's Jose Mai says, quote, "They are being charged for border jumping and held at a quarantine facility in San Ignacio. They were forcefully taken to the hospital for COVID 19 testing. The health authorities refused to do the test stating that there is no reason to do so. They were forced to do it," End quote.
Police say they had to force medial staff to swab them because they cannot take them before the court without that being done.
