Part of Caye Caulker's rustic charm is its sandy streets lined with local food vendors.
And among the most popular are Betty's Go Slow and Chef Kareem's BBQ near the Split. But for the past several weeks, their grills have gone cold. The vendors claim they were ordered to vacate their longtime spots without any official explanation. Now, facing mounting financial losses and an uncertain future, they visited our studio to share their side of the story. Courtney Menzies reports.
They have earned raves in Tik Tok tourist reviews and probably well deserved. Betty Petillo and Chef Kareem have been operating their food stalls on the beachside near the Split in Caye Caulker for about ten years. But last month, they were told to vacate the premises.
According to Petillo, she took the matter to court but missed the date and was given a court order to leave. However, now it's been weeks that she hasn't been working and she's lost her livelihood for reasons she can't understand.
Betty Petillo, Betty's Go Slow Grill
"I got a letter to move from the premises because they said we're not listening to rules so I got an attorney to represent me in this case."
"the 15th I was supposed to go back to the court and I forgot so I didn't show up so when the judge saw that I did not come to the court on the 15th, they sent an order so I could move from the premises. I did that but I have my trailer, I didn't move it but I didn't go back into business for two weeks."
"I feel they took away my whole life, my living, my livelihood, I'm just at home doing nothing, spending money and not making any money."
She and Chef Kareem, the only two vendors ousted of the four that use the space, maintain that their removal was driven by racial bias.
Betty Petillo, Betty's Go Slow Grill
"this is my living and this is how I sustain my family and this is how I live and I've been doing this for ten years. So for me I know the village council is just being racist, just being biased, it's a lot going on on Caye Caulker and I need my voice to be heard and I need to put it out there."
"I have all my receipts that I've been paying my bills. In August when I went to pay my bill to the village council because they charge up $200 a month, when I went to village council to pay my rent, they did not want to take the money, they had attitude, the secretary, whatever. And that's when I got an attorney involved."
Chef Kareem, Chef Kareem's UnBelizeable Lunch
"for some reason, I don't know if the village council just wants to move us because there's four of us there and only two of us got the order to move from off the beach and we just wanted to know what's the reason and they stopped collecting rent from us also and when we went to court, the summons said we are not paying rent but how can we pay rent if they don't want to accept our rent?"
And for both of them, when they first chose that location, they were selling rent free for about four years. It wasn't until 6 years ago that they say the village council gave them a contract to rent the space.
Betty Petillo, Betty's Go Slow Grill
"it wasn't the village council that put us there, we the vendors just went, we saw it's a good location for business and we just went and did our business there. And whenever the village council saw the business is doing great, they decided they wanted to charge a fee to be there. They came to us and said we're going to give you guys a contract to sign and we're going to charge you and we just went with it. The four vendors and for right now only me and Chef Kareem is not out there."
Chef Kareem, Chef Kareem's UnBelizeable Lunch
"I'm not sure what's the outcome with the other two but ever since I opened a restaurant like the village council sent me a letter two weeks after saying oh you have a permanent place to work so we're giving you two weeks to vacate the area from the beach so as a local, as a Belizean, I'm not allowed to uplift myself and have two businesses?"
"they told us if we don't sign the contract we couldn't be there anymore either so we had no choice but to sign the contract they gave us and every couple of months, they're changing stuff on the contract and they say it's a privilege for us to be there because they could move us whenever they're ready."
And now with no options left, these vendors are hoping the Village Council works with them and they get to reopen their stalls soon since they feel their flavor is a tourist favorite.
Betty Petillo, Betty's Go Slow Grill
"the tourists don't want to go to the restaurants. It's only a couple of them who will go. The tourists prefer going to the vendors and eating because our food it's good, it's outdoors, they can see their food freshly made from the sea because everyday we get our seafood freshly so that's what the tourists they like."
When we reached out to the chairlady, Seleny Villanueva Pott, she said, quote, "We have had a series of meetings with the four vendors. We have gotten numerous complaints that the smoke affects the children and not many families use the park because of the smoke. Coupled with the constant complaints of inappropriate food handling, tourist harassment, sale of alcohol, and breaking vendor rules, we have decided that it's best each vendor finds a private property location to conduct business while we create a more family friendly beach area for all to enjoy. These 2 vendors refused to move after several meetings, hence we got a court order for removal and an ejection. We have done our best to work with these vendors, but (there was) no improvement over time. There was also a petition with signatures. We understand everyone needs to make a living but rules and regulations are set for order as we represent all of Belize." End quote.