Sunday, December 12, 2010
The Belize Times
1
COROZAL FREE ZONE IN CRISIS SUNDAY DECEMBER 12, 2010
Issue No. 4723
$1.00 www.belizetimes.bz www.pup.org.bz
$20 Million USD Locked Up with Nowhere to Go - New Transparency Policy – ‘Don’t Tell Anyone!’
Christmas is a time when tradition dictates that everyone should be jolly but nothing could be further from the truth right about now. The majority of Belizeans are extremely unhappy, especially the Corozal Free Zone (CFZ) businesses. They just have too much cash and cannot pay their bills and clear their containers for the Christmas season. Some have even bought steel safety boxes because the banks will not take their US dollars. One of the major objectives of the CFZ was to generate foreign exchange. However, some time ago the banks began charging (1%) one percent to receive US dollars and then the cost to accept the US deposits went up to 2%. Now the banks in the CFZ will not accept US dollar deposits at all. It is alleged that US officials are saying that Belize and El Salvador have too much US cash for
the size of their economy. Part of the problem is that the CFZ has never been recognized, officially, for its contribution to the economy. In its peak period the free zone had 1.5 million visitors which
represents more spending visitors than what both cruise and overnight tourism brings in for any given year, yet these statistics are never officially reported as a part of the overall economy. The extent of the re-export
trade and the employment generation (of over 2,000 jobs) are two other important by- products of the CFZ economic activity. In 1995 the CFZ actually helped the port in Belize City to come out of the red by developing more container traffic. Although Mexico is our neighbor, Belize has never had a formal structure in place to facilitate trade. There is no Mexican Bank in Belize, nor one at the CFZ to facilitate foreign exchange. In fact, you always hear about officials both at the Mexican Border and those on the highways trying their best to discourage Mexican visitors from visiting Belize. While there is a program for Europe and the USA there is none for Mexican tourists. Two years ago the local banks in the CFZ were accepting Pesos but that was discontinued and no official attempt was made to rectify the (Continued on pg. 3)
BRN Residents Want Castro Gone
Gayle must be PUP…
The Story Behind the New Judge
It didn’t take the residents of the Belize Rural North constituency any great period of time after their area representative Edmond “Clear the Land” Castro was expelled from Cabinet for collecting money and not following through on a land transaction with a Belizean American, before they called for his removal from the area. Castro fell from grace officially as Minister of State for the Ministry of Works on November 24th when Prime Minister Dean Barrow concluded that it would be too risky to sweep this scandal under the rug. It came after Althea Grant, a Belizean lady living in the United States, provided proof to Barrow that she had paid close to
On Monday, December 6, 2010, the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts was filled with an anxious crowd of truly concerned Belizeans. Anthropologist Dr. Herbert Gayle presented his damning work, which is a fourteen month research entitled Male Social Participation and Violence in Urban Belize: An examination of their experience with goals, guns, gangs, gender, God and governance. The intimidating four hundred and three page research paper stuck it to everyone. Despite the slap-knee comedy of Gayle during his two hour presentation, his findings were a shameful scolding of the Government and its institutions. Gayle began what can only be considered as his flogging of the government by questioning how one
The last time the public heard from the Bar Association of Belize, it was pleading to the Prime Minister to be included in the process of selecting members of the judiciary, in particular, the Chief Justice of Belize. Shortly thereafter, a member of the bench with whom the Bar Association found much fault was rammed into that very post. The members of the Bar Association on the strength of their constitutional convictions filed action in the Supreme Court as evidence of the severity of their qualms. The next blow was a maniacal accusation by Barrow that the Bar Association is “PUP” and that he would exercise restraint in not using his magical toy in
(Continued on pg. 3)
(Continued on pg. 3)
(Continued on pg. 3)
Barrow's 2010 - Mawga Season All Year - Imagine 2011