We don't know how they do with foreign relations, but one thing's for sure, Belize's diplomats suck at parking. First it was New York, and now it's Mexico. Belize's Ambassador to Mexico Salvador Figueroa discovered this week that diplomatic immunity can't save you from a traffic ticket. Yesterday Mexican newspapers reported that his excellency engaged in behavior unbecoming of an ambassador. The Mexico city newspaper Reforma yesterday ran a front page story and showing Figueroa bitterly arguing over a parking violation.
Apparently, Figueroa parked his embassy SUV, a GMC Yukon on East Juarez Avenue in a historic area of downtown Mexico City. Traffic officers put wheel locks, known as spiders, on the vehicle and that is when Mexican reports say Figueroa told them he is a diplomat and was protected under diplomatic immunity. Though he boldly defied them and drove off from the wheel clamps which had not been locked on yet, in the end Figueroa lost because under Mexican law anyone who commits a traffic infraction has to pay, diplomat or not. The Mexican paper asks: where is the diplomacy?
As you may recall, last year in July, we reported that Belize owed the city of New York almost US$8,000 in parking tickets and because of that the U.S. State Department had decided to suspend a few hundred dollars in aid to Belize.
