Getting to the bottom of the airport developer mystery

News Five continues to follow the developing story of developer Jorge Jaen’s dubious past and what it means for his multi-million dollar development project for the Efrain Guerrero International Airport in San Pedro. Jaen has previous convictions for fraudulent activity in the U.S. dating as far back as 1999, and his company appears to be only recently formed. There is pressure on the government to avoid a repeat of the Puerto Azul fiasco and to say what it knows and how it intends to follow up the situation. But P.U.P. leader John Briceño fears it’s the same old story: U.D.P. hustling.

John Briceño, Leader, P.U.P.

John Briceno

“If you can remember a few years ago, ministers were posing with actors and the paparazzi in Cannes, where they had the Puerto Azul project, and we found out that it was basically a Ponzi scheme. Now we have here another gentleman that comes in and makes these pie in the sky promises, that he’s going to raise a hundred million dollars, U.S., to build an airport on Ambergris Caye; and now we’re finding out that this man has been suspected of committing fraud, not once, but several times. We’re finding out that the company that they own has no history in any kind of airport development or any kind of history in developing big projects because this is a massive project. And on the part of the Government, here we have the Government signing on to something – because I’ve got a feeling that some people believe that it is a ‘quick-rich’ scheme for them. The ministers and the U.D.P. cronies and their hangers-on believe that if we can move a hundred-million dollar project some of us can make some money from it. But have we done the proper studies? Have we done the engineering studies that is needed to be able to build an airport in Ambergris Caye? Where are we going to get the massive amount of landfill that we’d have to be using? How is it going to affect the people from San Pedro, San Pedraños, our local airlines? So there are many questions that should have bene answered before we signed an M.O.U. Once again, we believe that it is a hustle from some people in the Dean Barrow U.D.P. government.”