Earlier in the News, you heard the leader of the Opposition rail against Government's decision to make visas mandatory for Haitian Citizens while contemplating protocols for the movements of Jamaicans travelling in Belize.
Now, the Minister of Human Development Dolores Balderamos Garcia is weighing in on what she calls an international smuggling ring that's clearly operating in Belize and charging hopeful immigrants to the US tens of thousands of dollars just for a chance at illegal entry.
Here's the Minister's take and what she says her Ministry is doing to combat it.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development
"There is a very thin line between smuggling and trafficking, the definition of smuggling would be, you are moving people for a fee, now trafficking is where you involve any aspect of exploitation. So, I would want to say that there is trafficking going on because if you are charging people thousands and tens of thousands of dollars to go illegally into the United States and there is no even guarantee and it is an international ring of that kind of people movement, there has to be human trafficking involved, and my own input because the Prime Minister has spoken to it and also the Minister of Agriculture, my own input is that where there is exploitation of people we have a responsibility as a government to act."
"The vast majority of the people being moved are Haitian and like I said we have to cooperate and we have to be a responsible government. Now, in relation to our Jamaican sisters and brothers, I think a decision hasn't been fully taken as yet but I know that Minister Eamon Courtenay is speaking to it and we will do our best to make sure that we are not participating in moving people illegally into the United States, because I think the leader of the opposition must know that where the kind of numbers of Caricom nationals are being move through Belize and they come in legally, but then they disappear. They disappear into thin air? We know exactly what is happening and so we have to act and even though there is the principle of free movement of nationals throughout Caricom, the news that we have for the leader of the opposition is that he has to wake up and smell the coffee of what is happening so that we don't participate in this kind of human trafficking."
We also asked Balderamos if Central Americans are falling victim to this smuggling ring but she says that most Central Americans are merely coming to Belize to seek a better life not necessarily to move on.
