Yesterday, we asked the Foreign Minister about drug trafficking throughout the region - as drug shipments head to the United States, which is the world's largest consumer of illicit drugs.
He discussed the regional approach to narcotrafficking:
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"Well, I think two points to make. One is that Belize is very committed to working with our international partners, including the United States government, on combating any criminal illicit activity, along our borders or in the region. We're very, always very concerned as a government about narco trafficking. Human trafficking. So we are already working with many different countries, Mexico, the United States."
"Even with Guatemala, we work with them to combat these threats, to our national security. So we are absolutely prepared, to welcome any effort, to tackle narco trafficking in our region. It's a real threat, to the social fabric of our country, to our economic development, to our national security. At the same time, of course, the Caribbean, we are very proud of the fact in the Caribbean that we have been a zone of peace. We have always lauded that. You know, our meetings, Caricom meetings. You know, we talked about that quite a bit. So I know that within our Caricom community, there is concern about what is taking place. I think the issue is really more about communication. Finding out more about what is taking place. So we've had that discussion in Caricom, and Caricom is seeking to engage with the United States government, so that we can be better informed about exactly what they are doing.And what they have planned, because our commitment is to ensure that the Caribbean remains a zone of peace."
Final Night Of Mas Camp Visits
And now changing gears and changing the mood completely - we have coverage of the final frenzied night of Mas Camp visits in Belize. Clifford Mejia went into each bands' territory:
Fewer Carnival Bands But Culture Minister Says More Revelers
And while - as you can see - the bands had full sound and fury, the Carnival Road March set for Saturday September 6th may be missing a few bands this year. The Minister of Culture said it is not a shortage of bands but it;s because the bands have actually gotten bigger.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture
"Neither. Neither of those things. The carnival bands are actually bigger. They have fewer, as you said, two carnival bands, are not participating this year. Because 1 or 2 of them, I think, merged based on the reports we got from the Carnival Association. But everybody is bigger. So the number of revelers, the number of Carnival masqueraders is more than ever before. That is what you should be pointing out."
