And while that's high politics, on the ground in Belize City the UDP City Council is under pressure from a group of taxi drivers. They're the ones we've been telling you about who have come under a crackdown by authorities to make sure that cruise visitors are taken for tours by licensed guides and not taxi-men. Since last week, City Hall's traffic officers have been stopping taxis with tourists, taking out the tourists and transferring them to rides run by licensed guides. But now, the Tourist Village Taxi and Transfer Service says City Hall is taking it one step further; it's banning their 84 members from entering the area known as the tourism zone.
Thing is, they claim that the other taxi and tour guide group, The United Tour Union is being given the exclusive to operate out of terminal one which is the village's main entrance on Fort Street. These taxi-men operate at terminal four, at the second tourism village on North Front Street. But now, they say they are losing even that right and they are none too happy about it. Tour guide John Pollard is the union president.
John Pollard, President
"Out of 84 personnel Jules, a lot of these guys won't have nothing to eat, won't have any food to put on their table because most of them come out to hustle on a daily basis."
Pastor Lloyd Welch,
"These men have families, wives and kids. They have kids to maintain, go to school each day, bread on the table, and when we touch the poor, take the bread out of their mouth, you touch board."
Henry Gillett, Taxi Driver
"On a good given day like tomorrow, two big ships, I am an average young man, I am one of the best the taxi man who works out with my mouth and I am able to make like nearly three hundred U.S. dollars out there on a good average day."
Jules Vasquez,
What will happen tomorrow?
John Pollard,
"Come tomorrow Jules, tomorrow it is going to be, tomorrow the zone is going to zone off."
Bocco-T,
"Tomorrow is two ships from Carnival. What the City Council is saying to us is that we will not be allowed in this zone to make not even a dollar. Then how can we feed our kids and how can we pay our bills and pay them."
Jules Vasquez,
The Zone begins at City Hall and extends right to the village. That means you all won't be able to earn.
John Pollard,
"According to what they are saying, we will not be able to earn. Jules I am telling you about 84 people and I am telling you this much, if City Council doesn't care about us as the taxi-men then I don't see why we should care about them."
Jules Vasquez,
So what will you all do tomorrow?
John Pollard,
"Well Jules tomorrow, we are not a violence force but at the same time Jules, we have to eat because check this out, the Mayor is the Mayor, the Mayor is receiving a salary, Mr. Shepherd as the spokesperson for the City Council is receiving a salary and Jules we have to eat. So Jules I wouldn't want to say by any means necessary but we must eat."
Bocco-T,
"Maybe a riot starts tomorrow but tomorrow is going to be a different day in the tourism village."
Jules Vasquez,
What's going to happen tomorrow Bocco?
Bocco-T,
"Well Jules it's only obvious that when the people can't eat, it shows in Belmopan and it shows in the streets of Belize."
Henry Gillett,
"What we doing is, 'hey you want a taxi,' and we drop them from here to Old Belize and back but they are even stopping that and they are saying behind the barrier they will have some of their personnel police officers to check you and if you don't have a tour guide in cab, you cannot leave."
Jules Vasquez,
The central tourism regulator, Belize Tourism Board, has set a standard that you can't have any tourist with you unless you are a licensed tour guide.
John Pollard,
"Being a taxi personnel, as being a taxi driver, Jules you have to go and you have to take a test to become a taxi driver. For you to take a test to become a taxi driver, Jules you must know the rules and regulations. So by knowing the rules and regulations, when the tourists come Jules the same rules apply. Everybody out here as taxi personnel was informed by Belize City Council that they must go to school and must become a tour guide. Jules you know how it is, everybody here isn't fortunate. Your brain is not like my brain, his brain is not like the other brain. The personnel out here completed the course. Some are fruitful and some aren't fruitful.
The problem is that I think there is a middle ground. It seems like the City Council wants to get things in order but the medium that they are doing it through is not proper. This is what I am saying. If you as a taxi driver doesn't want to take the tour guide course or if you've not been far enough in school, because the course is very intense, I've been through it, its very intense, and you don't want to take it, you should be able to take tourists. But the point is that if you have a misbehavior problem, if you are endangering the tourists, if you're disrespecting one another and the police out here then there's a problem. So why don't the City Council or the BTB or some department go through a list of the guide that are misbehaving and say you cannot come in."
Dennis Tillet,
"I am a licensed tour guide but for me to join their union I have to follow their bull----. I don't want to curse on the media but I want you to understand that all of us are taxi-men. All of us come from nothing but we are taking a lick out here. They are stopping us even though we have tour guide licenses. I am taking a lick. I have a taxi. I put tourists in my vehicle and they still come and harass me so what is the whole point."
City Councilor with responsibility for public relations Laura Esquivel said she was unaware of the specific directive to keep them out of the tourism zone, but she acknowledged that there is an ongoing programme to allow only licensed guides to provide tours and hopes that another tour guide training programme can be worked out to accredit these taxi-men.
