TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS IN BELIZE - OAS

have to evaluate very carefully whether what they are saying is true or not. If
they are searching for a job, they have two weeks to do so. No pressure is put
on them because we need workers on citrus and banana plantations, Belizeans
don’t want to work there”, explained a Dangriga migration post source. The
Immigration Department has scarce human resources to inspect the area and
demands employers to clearly state when they employ immigrants so as to
have the situation under control. Sometimes, neighbors report foreigners that,
they assume, aren’t in a regular situation. In order to provide an incentive for
plantation workers, the work permits can be given out by the Migration
Department, but in other areas it is the Labor Department who is in charge of
this task.
The Punta Gorda port has been surrounded by a wire fence to provide more
security and speedboats must stay within that area. However, in Dandriga, the
Migration post is in the city, a few blocks from the coast and speedboats tie up
at a wharf from which passenger arrive walking. A single ticket from Dangriga to
Barrios costs 50 dollars and a return one, 35.
Migration officers from Dangriga port, assured that irregular situations don’t
happen at these ports because controls are a daily practice. Illegal crossovers
are common on land. “The Melchor zone is very open, they cross from
Guatemala and Honduras”, they say.
One fact is clear: those who whish to enter to or transit illegally through Belize
taking with them voluntary or forced migrants, have multiple options: there are
many landing spots for speedboats coming from south on the coast between
Dangriga and Punta Gorda. The sea is calm and safe and the traffic is so high
due to tourism and fishing that no movement arises suspicions. The Migration
Department has no boats and the ones that belong to the Fisheries Department
don’t control passengers’ documents because their job is to keep an eye on
illegal fishing and depredation. The pair of boats that belong to the Defense
Forces aren’t enough to control such a vast extension of sea.
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