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And while Belize will be helping the other Caribbean nations, Belizeans in the diaspora got a big help last month after the Ministry of Natural Resources took a mobile land clinic to LA. Between the 19th to the 22nd, hundreds of Belizeans living abroad received assistance with their land issues, and they even had the chance to apply for land.
There were criticisms, however, about whether this service should be offered to Belizeans who don't actually live and pay taxes in Belize. But according to the Minister, they should be able to access any service no matter where they are. And he says the land clinic was a big success.
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister
"I think that went exceedingly well, we had a lot of people come out, hundreds of people, it forced us to work really hard but we always work hard at these land clinics. I think Saturday night when the gala, we worked until 2:00 in the morning and we could not make the gala unfortunately, our staff was disappointed but they always put their best foot forward when dealing with the public and we treated the diaspora Belizeans as we would any other Belizeans, with as much love and attention as possible and we were able to help as many of them as possible, I think they all, they left there exceedingly happy, we had people flying in from Georgie, from Colorado, from North Carolina, from all over the country to try to access the support and access the services that we were providing. We've been getting calls for us to go to other places but that's another matter, we'll have to discuss that at some point, we've not had a time to really settle in because as we come back, we're facing this, but we worked hard and I think it was a great opportunity for us in the government, the prime minister was there as you know, and for our ministry people and the government on a whole to interact with our Belizean community out there and to really bond on a level that we have never bonded before. I mean, we ask these folks for everything under the sun. Lord Rhaburn was absolutely right when we asked them to send us everything. send this, send that, and they've been there, they've paid school fees for our children, they've fed our families, they've been there in times of emergencies when it comes to health. The diaspora on a whole I think carried a lot of weight during COVD, I think a whole lot more of our people would have staved if not for the diaspora and they're sending in excess of $250 million a year in remittances to our country, we can't do enough and if you're Belizean, no matter where you are in the world, you have the right to access the services that your government provides."
