A few weeks ago, we reported on a woman who claimed she was driving to Valley of Peace for work and before she could even get in the village, she was stopped by men who claimed to be working for a Mexican cartel. She was then allegedly told to ask her family for ransom money.
We asked the Minister, who is also the Area Representative of Cayo South, his thoughts. He said that he investigated it, but the community was unaware of any cartel activity.
Julius Espat, Minister of MIDH
"I followed it up and nobody from the village saw anything or knew anything and the villagers are questioning, if a cartel held you up how nobody saw it, why didn't you come to police in Belmopan or roaring creek, why didn't you go to the police in valley of peace, why did you go to the media all the way to Belize City. That's what the people are telling me and so we haven't heard anything more from it. But why would a cartel in Belize ask you for pesos? I mean, we don't deal with pesos in this country. How will the lady get pesos? So all of that, makes everybody wonder."
